Parallel and Perpendicular: Chapter Zero
by ShaggyDiz
Summary: One line. Two people. The only way for love is to cross it. Rated R for dialogue. *Chapter Zero completed*
1. 0:1 Good Morning Sunshine

Disclaimer:  Dragon Ball Z, it's characters and likenesses, are all own by Akira Toriyama and the creators of the animated series.  The characters are used for my amusement and are not being written for money purposes.  The name, 'Selene', has been borrowed by DarkHeart81.  I asked, rather informed him of my use of the name, which he allowed.  The characters 'Kagero' and 'Faye' have been created for this story, and this story alone.  If you want to use them, please ask.

This story is rated R for sexual content and strong/explicit dialogue.

* * *

Parallel and Perpendicular

A romance fiction/story by ShaggyDiz

Chapter Zero: Parallel

Part One: Good Morning Sunshine

* * *

                All he wished for was a normal life.

                He had it nice in the beginning: a home to live in, a nice caring family, and not a worry in the world.

                Turning five and a half sucked a lot.

                He looked back now, wondering if he ever had the chance to have a normal life.

                Well, the last seven years proved to be a step in the right direction in terms of normalcy.  He gained a new addition to the family – a brother – that replaced the one lost all those years ago.

                A father.

                He was happy though, for the most part.  His depression died soon after his father told him how proud he was of him.  His father didn't know of the new son he would be getting.

                No one would though.  At least, no one would know for a good three months after Goku's death.

                Yet, it made him happy.  He would be getting a brother.  And he would raise him in a simple world where no harm would come to him.  He would get the normal life that he himself never had.

                It made him smile.

                Gohan was happy.

* * *

                All she wished for was a normal life.

                She had it nice in the beginning: a home to live in, a nice caring family, and not a worry in the world.

                Turning ten sucked a lot.

                She looked back now, wondering if she ever had the chance to have a normal life.

                Well, the last seven years proved to be a step in the right direction in terms of normalcy.  She had a younger sibling – a sister – that replaced the two lost all those years ago.

                A mother.

                A father.

                She was happy though, for the most part.  Her depression soon died after she reflected upon the loss of her mother.  She decided not to mope around, for she had another duty to perform, one that she had to do to make her mom proud of her.  She had to raise her sister like a daughter.

                No one told her how tough it would be.  At least, no one did for a good three months after Selene's death.

                Yet, it made her happy.  She would be raising a sister.  She would do so in a simple world where no harm would come to her.  She would get the normal like that she herself never had.

                It made her smile.

                Videl was happy.

* * *

                He decided to get up early today, for what reason, he didn't know.  He only knew that he wanted to get some fresh air.  Getting out of bed, he stretched his lazy muscles out; twisting and turning them to get the blood flow back in them that were slowed from the night before.  He grabbed a towel from a hook on his door and made his way to the bathroom.  He disrobed what little he had on before stepping into the shower.

                Several minutes later, he stepped out, refreshed, and smelling quite nicely thanks to his mother's shopping methods.  He dried himself off briefly before wrapping the towel around his waist.  Slowly, he made his way back to his room, where he found his brother Goten sitting on his bed, still in his pajamas.

                "Gohan, why are you up so early?  You made a lot of noise, and it woke me up," the child said, weariness in his voice.  He rubbed one of his eyes with his small fist, trying to get the sleep out of them.

                "Did I really make too much noise?"  Goten nodded.  "Hmm… that's strange.  I don't think I made that much noise rolling out of bed and stretching out."

                "You did something to wake me up though, Gohan.  I know it!"

                "Okay, okay!  Calm down Goten," he said, hushing his voice and using his hands as emphasis.  "I'm sorry for waking you up.  Happy?" he asked.  He received a quick couple nods from Goten.  "Good.  Now go get a shower."

                "Why?" he asked.

                "Because we're going to have a little fun today after breakfast.  I haven't done anything as of late that has involved the word 'fun'."  This caused the gears in Goten's head to start churning.  The word 'fun' to Goten had one meaning: that he would be happy.  Now, with his older brother, his happiness would double.  He hopped off of his brother's bed, running quickly towards the bathroom.  He stopped for a brief moment at the doorway, reaching for towel on a hook below his brother's, before resuming his course to the bathroom.

                Gohan smiled.

* * *

                She decided to get up early today, for what reason, she didn't know.  She only knew that she wanted to get some fresh air.  Getting out of bed, she stretched her lazy muscles out; twisting and turning them to get the blood flow back in them that were slowed from the night before.  She grabbed a towel from her closet and made her way to the bathroom.  She disrobed what little she had on before stepping into the shower.

                Several minutes later, she stepped out, refreshed, and smelling quite nicely thanks to the maid's shopping methods.  She dried off briefly before wrapping the towel around her chest, securing it under her armpit.  She grabbed another towel and wrapped it around her head.  Slowly, she made her way back to her room, where she found her sister Kagero sitting on her bed, still in her pajamas.

                "Videl, why are you up so early?  You made a lot of noise, and it woke me up," the child said, weariness in her voice.  She rubbed one of her eyes with her small fist, trying to get the sleep out of them.

                "Did I really make too much noise?" Kagero nodded.  "Hmm… that's strange.  I don't think I made that much noise rolling out of bed and stretching out."

                "You did something to wake me up though, Videl.  I know it!"

                "Okay, okay!  Calm down Kagero," she said, hushing her voice and using her hands as emphasis.  "I'm sorry for waking you up.  Happy?" she asked.  She received a quick couple nods from Kagero.  "Good.  Now go get a shower."

                "Why?" she asked.

                "Because we're going to have a little fun today after breakfast.  I haven't done anything as of late that has involved the word 'fun'."  This caused the gears in Kagero's head to start churning.  The word 'fun' to Kagero had one meaning: that she would be happy.  Now, with her older sister, her happiness would double.  She hopped off her sister's bed, running quickly towards the bathroom.  She stopped for a brief moment at the doorway, reaching for a towel in the closet where her sister had grabbed one earlier, before resuming her course to the bathroom.

                Videl smiled.

* * *

                He sat at the table with Goten, eagerly waiting for his mother to come downstairs to make breakfast.  He looked up at the clock, seeing that it was only half past seven.  Looking back at the table, he put his head down on his hands, relaxing a bit.  As he did so, footsteps were heard coming down the stairs.  They looked up to see their mother, Chichi, coming down the stairs, still in her nightgown.  She rubbed her eyes some before witnessing the scene in front of her.

                "You know I would have gotten you up this morning Gohan.  I don't like it when you sleep at the table," she said, a slight bit of annoyance, and yet also some motherly care, in her voice.  He got his head off of the table though once she said that.

                "I'm not really tired Mom.  I wanted to get up early today."

                "And why is that?"  Goten decided to jump in at this time.

                "We want to have fun today Mom!" he said, hopping in his seat.

                "Fun, huh?" she questioned.  She looked to her older son.  "Explain fun, Gohan."

                "I wanted to go out and get some air.  Today is a day for relaxation I think.  No training.  No studying.  Just… nothing."

                "And Goten woke up for this?" she asked, snickering slightly as Goten nodded his head again rather quickly.

                "He claims that I woke him up."

                "Well that's a first," she said, walking over to the fridge to grab some food.  "Almost everyday he wakes up by the smell of the food!"

                "I'm a growing boy Mom!" Goten said from his seat.  "That's what Gohan said: 'Make sure you eat your fill so you can get big and strong just like me'."  He looked over to his older brother.  He nodded in agreement at the pre-rehearsed line he gave to Goten.

                "You also know that eating isn't the only thing to make you big," Chichi said, her parenting skills showing through.  "That's really only part of the equation.  You have to exercise too, or you'll end up like a blob on the couch, flipping through channels endlessly for the rest of your life."  Goten made a face to that comment.

                "I don't want to be like that!  Gohan!" he whined, clearly not pleased with the predicament placed before him.

                Gohan laughed, and then he smiled again.

* * *

                She sat at the table with Kagero, eagerly waiting for their maid to come downstairs to make breakfast.  She looked up at the clock, seeing that it was only half past seven.  Looking back at the table, she put her head down on her hands, relaxing a bit.  As she did so, footsteps were heard coming down the stairs.  They looked up to see their maid, Faye, coming down the stairs, still in her nightgown.  She rubbed her eyes some before witnessing the scene in front of her.

                "You know I would have gotten you up this morning Videl.  I don't like it when you sleep at the table," she said, a slight bit of annoyance, and yet also some motherly care, in her voice.  She got her head off of the table though once she said that.

                "I'm not really tired Faye-Faye.  I just wanted to get up early today."

                "And why is that?"  Kagero decided to jump in at this time.

                "We want to have fun today Faye-Faye!" she said, hopping in her seat.

                "Fun, huh?" she questioned.  She looked at the older girl.  "Explain fun, Videl."

                "I want to go out and get some air.  Today is a day for relaxation I think.  No training.  No studying.  Just… nothing."

                "And Kagero woke up for this?" she asked, snickering slightly as Kagero nodded her head again rather quickly.

                "She claims that I woke her up."

                "Well that's a first," she said, walking over to the fridge to grab some food.  "Almost everyday she wakes up by the smell of food!"

                "I'm a growing girl Faye-Faye!" Kagero said from her seat.  "That's what Videl said: 'Make sure you eat your fill so you can fill out nicely just like me'."  She looked over to her older sister.  She nodded in agreement at the pre-rehearsed line she gave to Kagero.

                "You also know that eating isn't the only thing to fill you out," Faye said, her parenting skills showing through.  "That's only part of the equation.  You have to exercise too, or you'll end up like a blob on the couch, flipping through channels endlessly for the rest of your life."  Kagero made a face to that comment.

                "I don't want to be like that!  Videl!" she whined, clearly not pleased with the predicament placed before her.

                Videl laughed, and then she smiled.

* * *

                "Hey Gohan!  What are we going to be doing today?" Goten asked, tugging on his brother's pant leg.  He looked down at the child, giggling slightly at his innocence.  This, in turn, caused Goten to laugh too.  A huge smile was imprinted on his face.

                "Well, Goten," he started, "I figure we go for a little walk… maybe talk to your dinosaur friends.  I was thinking though about going to Northern Capitol, if Mom would let us though."

                "Maybe you should ask her then," he said, getting a deadpan look from his older brother.

                "Ask me what, Gohan?" Chichi said, walking into the living room where her two sons were.

                "I was thinking about Northern Capitol today.  Can we go?"  Chichi tilted her head slightly, putting herself in mock thought.

                "Hmm… I don't see the problem with that."

                "Thanks Mom!" he said, getting up and giving her a small hug.

                "Yeah!  Thanks Mom!" Goten said happily as well, hopping over from the couch to give her a hug.

                "Boys, come on… it's not like I never let you go out."  Goten looked up, confusion written over his face.

                "Mom… you really don't let us go out all the time," the child said.  Chichi looked down at him, letting a small smile come on her face.

                "I let you out all the time Goten."  He titled his head slightly.  "I just never let you go out that far."  Goten scratched his head for a moment, thinking about his mom's last statement.

                "Ah.  Okay Mom!  I got it!  Thank you Mom!" he said ecstatically, jumping up to give Chichi another hug.

                He looked on at the scene, his mood brightening because of it.  He walked back to the couch, sitting down in it and returning his gaze to the TV, watching the latest news report.  A bank robbery in Satan City caught his eye, causing him a bit of displeasure.

                "I don't understand this," he said.  Chichi walked over to the couch and sat down next to him.

                "What don't you understand Gohan?"

                "Well, two things about Satan City.  One: the fact that it's named after that goofball.  Two: why there is so much crime in that city is beyond me."  By now, Goten had taken his position on top of his brother's shoulders.  He titled his head again, trying to come up with an answer.

                "Maybe it has to do with the goofball being in the city."  Chichi looked up at her son, wondering where and when he had gotten so smart.  He noticed though.  "It's your fault Mom.  You making me study like Gohan has helped me a bit with making intelligent answers."

                So then, Chichi was floored.  And so was he.  He smiled again at his brother's ability to be adorable, and yet, rather astute at the same time.  He had the best of both worlds, he now wondered.  He got his father's naivety and his mind.  He didn't understand what his mom saw in the man, but he was glad, for obvious reasons, and not so obvious reasons.

                "I think that with the popularity of that goofball, people think that they can make a living robbing banks and stuff in the city.  They're all stupid like him."

                "Goten!"

                "No Mom, wait," he said, hushing his mom, "Goten's right.  They are stupid."

                They all laughed.

                And Gohan smiled.

* * *

                "Hey Videl!  What are we going to be doing today?" Kagero asked, tugging on her sister's oversized shirt.  She looked down at the child, giggling slightly at her innocence.  This, in turn, caused Kagero to laugh too.  A huge smile was imprinted on her face.

                "Well, Kagero," she started, "I figure we go for a little walk… maybe talk to your grade school friends.  I was thinking though about going to Northern Capitol, if Faye-Faye would let us though."

                "Maybe you should ask her then," she said, getting a deadpan look from her older sister.

                "Ask me what, Videl?" Faye said, walking into the living room where the girls were.

                "I was thinking about Northern Capitol today.  Can we go?"  Faye tilted her head slightly, putting herself in mock thought.

                "Hmm… I don't see the problem with that."

                "Thanks Faye-Faye!" she said, getting up and giving her a small hug.

                "Yeah!  Thanks Faye-Faye!" Kagero said happily as well, hopping over from the couch to give her a hug.

                "Girls, come on… it's not like I never let you go out."  Kagero looked up, confusion written over her face.

                "Faye-Faye… you really don't let us go out all the time," the child said.  Faye looked down at her, letting a small smile come on her face.

                "I let you out all the time Kagero."  She titled her head slightly.  "I just never let you go out that far."  Kagero scratched her head for a moment, thinking about the maid's last statement.

                "Ah.  Okay Faye-Faye!  I got it!  Thank you!" she said ecstatically, jumping up to give Faye another hug.

                She looked on at the scene, her mood brightening because of it.  She walked back to the couch, sitting down in it and returning her gaze to the TV, watching the latest news report.  A bank robbery in Satan City caught her eye, causing her a bit of displeasure.

                "I don't understand this," she said.  Faye walked over to the couch and sat down next to her.

                "What don't you understand Videl?"

                "Well, two things about this city.  One: the fact that it's named after my idiot of a father.  Two: why there is so much crime in that city is beyond me."  By now, Kagero had taken her position next to her sister on the couch.  She titled her head again, trying to come up with an answer.

                "Maybe it has to do with us being in the city."  Faye looked up at the girl, wondering where and when she had gotten so smart.  She noticed though.  "It's your fault Videl.  You making me study like someone possessed has helped me a bit with making intelligent answers."

                So then, Faye was floored.  And so was she. She smiled again at her sister's ability to be adorable, and yet, rather astute at the same time.  She had the best of both worlds, she now wondered.  She got her mother's random naivety and her mind.  She didn't understand what her father saw in the woman, but she was glad, for obvious reasons, and not so obvious reasons.

                "I think that with the popularity of father, people think that they can make a living robbing banks and stuff in the city.  They're all stupid for some reason."

                "Kagero!"

                "No Faye, wait," she said, hushing the maid, "Kagero's right.  They are stupid."

                They all laughed.

                And Videl frowned.  She wanted to smile, but she frowned.  It was because of her father.  She suspected something about him for a while now.  She didn't know though, and neither did Faye.  She was unhappy because of this though, because she had a father who only acted like it once a month, if that.  Ever since Cell, she was forced to raise herself alone.  She was forced to raise Kagero alone.  Faye had helped, and it made her happy.  She wasn't though, because her family was, in her mind, incomplete.

                Thus, a parallel was broken, and the lines between the two started to draw closer.

* * *

                "Mom!  We're leaving!" he called from the front door, announcing to Chichi that he and Goten were leaving.  Both had bags strapped to their backs, carrying random supplies, mostly capsules supplying food for them during their hike.  They also had a change of clothes so that when they reached the end of their hike, they would change out of their _gi_'s into more public attire.

                "Okay Gohan!  When do you plan on coming home?" she asked, coming to the archway between the kitchen and living room.  She held a wooden spoon in her hand and a glass pitcher in another.

                "We'll be back by dinner Mom."

                "Do you guys have enough food?  I don't want anyone giving you second glances because of your appetites over in Northern Capitol."

                "Don't worry Mom.  We have enough food for lunch.  And if not, we'll find some fish and cook them.  It shouldn't be too bad."

                "Okay Gohan."  She walked forward, giving Goten and him one last hug before saying good-bye.  "I'll see you boys tonight.  And stay out of trouble!"

                "Okay Mom!" they called back, walking out into the field in front of the house before marching off into the woods.

                "So what do you want to do first, Goten?" he asked the child, looking down at him while walking.

                "Chobi!  I want to see Chobi!" Goten shouted, hopping up and down around his brother.  He let out a small chuckle to his exuberant innocence.

                "Okay Goten.  We'll go see Chobi."  A few minutes later, they reached the forest line, entering another field that separated into several hills and valleys.  Beyond them laid a mountain range, which was the boys' destination.

                "Can we fly Gohan?  I'd like to see him now."  He looked down at his brother before looking back out to the horizon.

                "I want to walk today Goten.  Besides, I haven't taught you how to fly yet."

                "But I really want to fly Gohan!" he cried, whining.

                "Goten, let me tell you something real quick," he said, crouching down to get face to face with the child.  "If we fly, we would get there in a matter of minutes.  There's no adventure in that.  Now, if we walk, we can take in much more.  Sure, it would take us about an hour to get to Chobi and his family.  It would be an adventure doing that though."  Goten titled his head slightly, taking in all of the information his brother gave him.  "Do you understand Goten?"

                "Yeah, I think so Gohan.  I mean, it'll all be fun, right?"  He nodded.  "All right!  Let's walk!"  With that, Goten turned towards the mountains and began walking, taking in everything in stride.  After about five steps, he started pointing out random things in the area, like a tree standing in the middle of the field, or a bug crawling on a rock.

                Gohan smiled, and started off after him.

* * *

                "Faye!  We're leaving!" she called from the front door, announcing to the maid that she and Kagero were leaving.  Both had bags strapped to their backs, carrying random supplies, mostly capsules supplying food for a picnic for them to have at the end of their hike.  They also had a change of clothes so that when they reached the end of their hike, they would change out of their walking clothes into more public attire.

                "Okay Videl!  When do you plan on coming home?" she asked, coming to the archway between the kitchen and living room.  She held a wooden spoon in her hand and a glass pitcher in another.

                "We'll be back by dinner Faye."

                "Do you girls have enough food?  I don't want anyone giving you second glances because of your appetites over in Northern Capitol."

                "Don't worry Faye.  We have enough food for lunch.  And if not, we'll stop at a store.  It shouldn't be too bad."  She paused for a second, before adding under her breath, "Hopefully, if Kagero doesn't go and eat everything…"

                "Okay Videl."  She walked forward, giving Kagero and her one last hug before saying good-bye.  "I'll see you two tonight.  And stay out of trouble!"

                "One last thing Faye: what's my father up to?" she asked.

                "He's on another tour of the Southern States.  I don't think he'll return for another two weeks."  She sighed.

                "Okay Faye-Faye!" Kagero called back for both of them, walking out onto the sidewalk in front of the mansion before marching off into the park.

                "So what do you want to do first, Kagero?" she asked the child, looking down at her while walking.

                "Lily!  I want to see Lily!" Kagero shouted, hopping up and down around her sister.  She let out a small chuckle to her exuberant innocence.

                "Okay Kagero.  We'll go see Lily."  A few minutes later, they reached the forest line, exiting the park and coming upon a busy side street to Satan City.  Beyond the street laid the various buildings and skyscrapers littering the huge city.  Somewhere at the edge of the city laid the girls' destination.

                "Can we fly Videl?  I'd like to see her now."  She looked down at her sister before looking back out to the horizon.

                "I want to walk today Kagero.  Besides, I haven't taught you how to fly my jet-copter yet."

                "But I really want to fly Videl!" she cried, whining.

                "Kagero, let me tell you something real quick," she said, crouching down to get face to face with the child.  "If we fly, we would get there in a matter of minutes.  There's no adventure in that.  Now, if we walk, we can take in much more.  Sure, it would take us about an hour to get to Lily's house.  It would be an adventure doing that though."  Kagero titled her head slightly; taking in all of the information her sister gave her.  "Do you understand Kagero?"

                "Yeah, I think so Videl.  I mean, it'll all be fun, right?"  She nodded.  "All right!  Let's walk!"  With that, Kagero turned towards the street and began walking, taking in everything in stride.  After about five steps, she started pointing out random things in the area, like a random mailbox on a corner, or a patch of flowers on the sidewalk.

                Videl smiled, and started off after her.

* * *

                "Bye Chobi!" Goten yelled as they walked away from the mountainside.  After a few minutes, they came back upon the field that was at the bottom of the mountain.  "Gohan, what are we going to do now?"

                "Hmm…" he began to think.  He reached into his bag to pull out his watch.  It was now eleven o'clock, two hours after they had set off from home.  He put his watch back and stood up, pulling the bag onto his back once more.  "I think it's a good time to head off to Northern Capitol.  How's that sound, Goten?"  The child nodded his head rapidly, but suddenly stopped.

                "What are we going to do there?" he asked, curious.

                "There should be something interesting there to do.  I think they have a nice sized mall there too.  Mom has been hinting about sending me to school somewhere, so I think I'll get a new set of clothes or two."

                "But that's boring!"

                "I know."  He bent down to get face to face with Goten.  "Mom gave me a few zenni though.  She said to buy you one new toy of your choice."

                "My choice?" Goten asked, his eyes lighting up brightly.  He started nodding his head vigorously.  "If I get a new toy, then it won't be boring anymore!  It'll be lots of fun!  Uh Gohan?  It'll be lots of fun, right?"  He laughed at his younger brother.

                "Goten, it'll be so much fun that… that I don't know what else would be much more fun than this."

                "Really?  Gohan, that's great!  Come on, I want to go now!" he shouted, running circles around his older brother.

                "Okay.  Just let me call nimbus and we'll get going."  He called the cloud, and after a few seconds, the yellow puff of smoke halted in front of them.  They hopped on and blasted off.

                And Gohan smiled, nothing going wrong with his day.

* * *

                "Bye Lily!" Kagero yelled as they walked away from the house.  After a few minutes, they came upon the sidewalk that was at the end of the driveway.  "Videl, what are we going to do now?"

                "Hmm…" she began to think.  She looked down to her wrist to look at her watch.  It was now eleven o'clock, two hours after they had set off from home.  She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets after reading the time.  "I think it's a good time to head off to Northern Capitol.  How's that sound, Kagero?"  The child nodded her head rapidly, but suddenly stopped.

                "What are we going to do there?" she asked, curious.

                "There should be something interesting there to do.  I think they have a nice sized mall there too, only second or third in size to the Satan City Mall.  School is going to be starting up again in a couple weeks, so I think I'll get a new set of clothes or two."

                "But that's boring!"

                "I know."  She bent down to get face to face with Kagero.  "I have a few extra zenni with me today though.  I'll let you buy one new toy of your choice."

                "My choice?" Kagero asked, her eyes lighting up brightly.  She started nodding her head vigorously.  "If I get a new toy, then it won't be boring anymore!  It'll be lots of fun!  Uh Videl?  It'll be lots of fun, right?"  She laughed at her younger sister.

                "Kagero, it'll be so much fun that… that I don't know what else would be much more fun than this."

                "Really?  Videl, that's great!  Come on, I want to go now!" she shouted, running circles around her older sister.

                "Okay.  Just let me get my copter out and we'll get going."  She pulled out a capsule and tossed it on the ground, and after a few seconds, the puff of smoke cleared, revealing the yellow jet-copter.  They hopped on and blasted off.

                And Videl smiled, nothing going wrong with her day.

* * *

End Part One.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, I hoped you enjoyed this first installment of my brand new story.  I know, it reads a little funny, but I did it on purpose, and for a reason.  This is pretty much setup for the story, so much of it will read the same was as this.  I ask you to please bear with me though, for this, I believe, will get interesting.

As for the teaser image I promised, well, it's coming.  I'm awaiting the final coloring from Psycho-Ann, which will hopefully be done today or tomorrow.  I'll post it immediately on my site when I get it, and if you don't have the chance to see it, I'll link it with the next part of the chapter.

I hoped you enjoyed.  Please review.


	2. 0:2 Lines in the Mall

Disclaimer: see Part One.

Mini author's rant:  Okay, I know the recent trouble Psycho Ann had with anonymous reviewers.  Still, I must address this, and I will do so only once.  I received a review from an anonymous person who wrote their name as 'Confused'.  As I read this review, I kind of wondered if I did leave a few things out.  That is, until I read it over again, and realized this: this person didn't even read the chapter correctly.  And for this reason, I can't be bothered with it.  This is trivial and really stupid on the part of the reviewer.  Now, if this person had signed in with a proper name, or at least left an e-mail, I would have gladly gotten to them and explained the story to them nicely.  Unfortunately, they didn't.

I'd like to apologize to my readers right now though for being as rude as I am.  I am not a rude person.  In fact, I am rather nice by other people's accounts.  As I said though, I cannot be bothered by such a trivial matter.  Either leave me an e-mail address if you have a question, concern, or criticism, or don't bother at all.

Now that this is over with, I present to you the second part of Chapter Zero.  Enjoy.

* * *

Parallel and Perpendicular

A romance fiction/story by ShaggyDiz

Chapter Zero: Parallel

Part Two: Lines in the Mall

* * *

                Goten looked out to the side of the cloud, watching the rolling hills and treetops pass by.  He let out some cheers and giggles as they flew.  He looked out in front of him and saw a small flock of ducks flying ahead of them.

                "Hey Gohan, look at that," he said.  He looked in front of Goten to see what he was talking about.

                "Ducks?" he asked.

                "Yeah.  Let's catch up to them."

                "Sure.  Nimbus, go faster," he said, and the cloud followed his command.  Soon they were flying just beneath the ducks, which were quacking as they flew.  One of them looked down to see the boys on the flying cloud.  The duck momentarily lost his balance before regaining it and moving down to fly next to them.

                "Hello Mr. Duck," Goten said.  He got a quack for a response.  "Nice day, huh?"  Another quack.  "Flying back north, huh?  Well that's where we flying now, though it's not for moving back to where we live.  We're going to the mall.  Do you know what a mall is Mr. Duck?"  Another quack, which strangely sounded like a 'no'.  "Well, you should sometime."

                "Goten, he's falling behind the rest of the ducks."  The child looked up and indeed saw the flock of ducks pulling away from the solitary bird flying next to them.

                "Oh no!  You should go and catch up to them Mr. Duck.  I'll talk to you later!" he said, waving to him.  The duck quacked before pulling up and flying off, catching up to the flock.

                The boys sat in silence for a little while, relaxing on the cloud.  "Hey Gohan," Goten said, "how far away are we?"  He looked out to the side, trying to determine where they were by the location of the hills, valleys and mountain roads.  He looked ahead and saw out in the horizon the first glimpses of city civilization.

                "Not much longer now Goten.  I'd say we're about five minutes away from the city.  It'll take a bit longer to find the mall since I haven't been here in a long time."

                "Okay Gohan."  Soon enough, they were outside the city, and they lucked out greatly, as the mall was only a few blocks from the southern part of the city.  They hopped off of the nimbus cloud, landing gently on the ground, albeit for Goten, it was a clumsy landing.  The older boy landed behind him, steadying Goten out.  They looked around; making sure no one witnessed their landings.  Shortly after scanning, they began to trek towards the mall.

                They made good timing in coming up to the east side of the mall, reaching it at around noon.  Goten looked up, awed at the sheer size of the entrance.  "Gohan… it's huge!" he said.

                "I know Goten.  Still, it's small compared to other buildings.  I got to take you Central Capitol sometime.  It has the three largest buildings in the world."

                "Really?" Goten asked.  He nodded.  "Cool!  How do you know all of this?"

                "Oh… I just look at the magazines that Mom usually gets when she goes shopping.  I look in them for an odd statistical fact, and one of them happened to be that little tidbit about Central Capitol."  He looked down at his brother, who looked like a curious puppy at the moment: head titled to the side slightly with a lost look in his eye.

                "Gohan… what did you just say?"

                "Nothing, Goten," Gohan laughed, rubbing the child's head.  "Now let's go in."

* * *

                Kagero looked out the side of the jet-copter, taking in the view of the rolling hills and treetops.  She made small comments here and there as they flew.  They soon came upon a flock of ducks flying to their east.

                "Hey Videl, look at that," she said.  She looked passed Kagero to see what she was talking about.

                "Ducks?" she asked.

                "Yeah.  Let's fly over to them."

                "I wish we could.  I'm running low on fuel right now and I can't make a diversionary track from where we're going," she said, double-checking to see if the copter's autopilot was still operational.  Confirming that, she moved closer to her sister and looked out the window with her.

                "You know Videl," Kagero said.  "It would be nice to fly like them."

                "I know.  It would be nice to sprout wings someday and just be in the clouds without this hunk of junk," she said, the last part a bit snidely.  Kagero giggled.

                "Well, I don't exactly mean with wings.  Just… fly without them.  Do you remember what you told me about the Cell Games?"  She nodded.  "I want to do that."

                "I know.  Dad said that it isn't possible though," she said solemnly.

                "Videl, can I tell you something?"  She nodded.  "I don't think Dad is telling us the truth.  I may only be eight years old, but I've noticed… some oddities in what Dad usually tells us about the Cell Games."

                "How so?"

                "He constantly changes a part of the story every time someone comes along to make a different point about it.  I don't like it."

                "I don't like it either, Kagero," she said, "I don't like it either."  A long beeping sound brought them out of their discussion.  She looked over to the copter's console and saw a flashing red light.

                "What is it, Videl?" Kagero asked.

                "The damn fuel is going quicker than I though.  I should have had this checked last time it was in the shop."

                "That's not good," Kagero said, oblivious to her sister's cursing.  It wasn't like she hadn't heard her mouth before anyway.  Most of it came from after a long and stupid conversation with her father or talking endlessly about how the boys at school constantly tried to hit on her.  "How far away are we from Northern Capitol anyway?"  She looked up ahead, noticing the city limits only a few minutes away.

                "Not far.  There should be enough to get to the closest fuel pad and refill this."

                "We're not going to die, right?" Kagero asked.  She looked over to the child, who looked like a curious puppy at the moment.  She laughed.

                "Not on my watch Kagero," Videl laughed, rubbing her younger sister's head.  "Now let's go in."

* * *

                They were in the back of the store, casually looking for a pair of pants to try on.  He had already selected a few pairs of shirts, all of which he liked.  Goten also was in favor of the clothing, albeit that he didn't understand why his older brother needed to buy clothes when he had all the _gi_'s he wanted at home.  He had, of course, to explain to Goten thoroughly that people usually don't walk around in public in their karate uniforms.

                After that explanation, he had made his selections of shirts.  As they moved forward, he saw a rack full of casual vests.  He walked to it and slowly walked around it.

                "What are you looking at?" Goten asked.

                "Vests," he replied.

                "What are vests?"  He paused for a moment, glancing down at the child.

                "Vests are kind of like your _gi_ tops.  The main difference is that they connect at the middle of your body with buttons or a zipper, like a coat.  Here," he said, pulling a red one off of the rack.  He took it off of the hanger, handing the piece of plastic to Goten, before taking the vest and putting it on.  It had a zipper, and thus, he zipped it up.  "See?  It is sleeveless, and has enough room for movement.  I wouldn't use it for fighting though.  It is more used for a casual dressing, or even a formal dressing, if you want to look nice in going somewhere.  Understand Goten?"

                "Yeah," the child said.

                "Good."

                From there, they went to the pants.  He had decided to take that vest, seeing that it fit him well and was relatively inexpensive, something that he could purchase with the lowering amount of cash currently within the family's budget.  Most of their money had come from the Ox King after Goku died, seeing as that the enormous man had an even larger estate to his name.  He had long since retired and cashed in most of his former holdings, becoming a rather rich person – none in the likes of Bulma, but rich enough to feed himself and his daughter and grandchildren for years to come.

                "How about this?" he asked Goten, pulling down a black pair of khaki pants.

                "Is this more of that 'casual' thing you were talking about?"

                "Yeah."

                "Well… I think it'll look good if you try it on."

                "Okay.  Stay put, and don't chase any mice around, okay?"  With that, he made his way to the men's dressing room, a mere five feet away from the pants' rack.  He went in, and a few minutes later, came out wearing them.  He looked over to Goten, who for once was obedient and stayed put.

                "What do you think?" he asked the child.  Goten moved forward a bit, looking at the khakis his bother had on.  He slowly circled around him, making sure to catch every detail of them.  This earned him a chuckled from the older boy.  Goten soon returned to the front of his brother and looked up.

                "I like them Gohan.  You going to get them?"

                "Yes.  I believe I will."  He returned to the room to take them off.  He came out, carrying everything that he was going to purchase in his arms.  Before he went up front though, he went back to the racks and picked out a dark blue pair of khakis, intent on getting two pairs.

                They made their way up front, being right at the desk, and thus, able to make a quick purchase.  The total of everything – three pairs of shirts, a vest, two pairs of pants, and some other random oddities – was close to one hundred twenty zenni.  He had more than enough though to make the purchase, and when he was done, told Goten that he was going to take him to the toy store to buy him a new toy.  Ecstatic, he took his brother's hand and begun dragging the older boy around, intent on getting to the toy store as quickly as they could.

                As they got outside, Goten turned left, figuring that the toy store was in that general direction.  Still caught in his younger siblings fierce grip, he turned his head right, and saw a girl, about his age, with raven black hair.  He caught her eyes for all of a brief second.  His head, for that brief second, screamed "beauty".  As quickly as he saw her though – and the younger girl by her side – his head was whipped around, forcing to keep itself with the rest of his body – and with Goten.

                Gohan smiled though, in spite of his current situation.

* * *

                They arrived at the mall safely, although later than they had originally thought.  It was close to twelve thirty when they entered Northern Capitol Mall.  She had just enough gas to reach the closest fueling station, but as she went to descend, it suddenly went dead, and the jet-copter ungracefully crash ten feet to the concrete surface.  The girls hopped out okay, figuring that they had made ungraceful landings before.  She went to check on the damage though and wasn't pleased.  Some of the support rods were bent out of shape, and there were some minor paint scrapes along the landing fins.  The station manager ran out though and, immediately recognizing her as the daughter of Hercule, promised her that he can get her up and running again by the end of the business day.  Satisfied, she set off with Kagero to the mall to begin their shopping day.

                They entered the mall and moved along the lower level shops to find a clothes store that she always goes to.  She knew what it was because the prices were relatively low for many of the items, and that the items were made of a high-grade material.  Plus, she also forced them not to give her the items she wanted for free simply because of who she was.  For quick auto repairs, being famous was a godsend.  For clothes shopping, she wanted a normal life and setting.

                She found the clothes store quick enough.  As she reached it though, a young child came storming out.  He looked to be dragging someone because of the overtly ecstatic nature of the boys face.  Kagero noticed as well.

                "Someone must have told him that he was going toy shopping."  The body being drug out of the clothing store quickly answered her statement.  She saw the boy, about her age, with jet-black hair.  She caught his eyes for all of a brief second though.  Her head, for that brief second, screamed "beauty".  As quickly as she saw him, his head was quickly whipped around to catch up with the rest of his body and the younger boy, assumed his brother.  He was dragged along, resembling a fish on a hook and rod.  She looked down to Kagero, a thoughtful look on her face.  One, she would add, looked dangerous.

                "You do that, I'm beating you," Videl said, a smile on her face.  They entered the store, beginning their clothes-shopping day.

* * *

                "Yeah!  Food!" Goten cried out, happy to be getting some food in his system.  This was a different sort of happiness though.  For the first time in his young life, he would get to experience the joys of "junk" food: the local burger place.  He was promised by his older brother not to speak of this incident to his mom in fear of what vein popping rant she would spew out upon him.  In return, they would travel to another toy store in the mall and buy a smaller item than the one currently in Goten's possession.

                That such possession had caused a sizable dent in his current budget.  It wasn't as expensive as his purchases had been – a mere thirty zenni – but the thing had come in a large box.  And inside that box was a half assembled remote control robot, somewhat reminiscent of a Red Ribbon Army toy from back when they were in business.  He looked over the box, seeing the various instructions on the outside of it, which led to what the inside contents had.

                "Mom's going to be having kittens when she sees this," he mumbled.

                "What was that Gohan?" Goten asked, hearing that low tone of voice from his brother.

                "Nothing Goten.  Just each your burger."  And so he did, completely forgetting about the uttered mumble.

                "Gohan," Goten said, finishing a bite of his burger, "why does Mom want to send you to school?"

                "I don't know.  My guess, though, is that there has to be something going on inside her head.  You see Goten; she has this vision for me.  She wants me to become a scholar.  I don't mind it actually, since I find the teaching of students appealing in a sense.  Heck, it's easy teaching you things.  You catch onto many things rather quickly."  The child smiled brightly at his brother's comment.  "I just think that, if it's easy teaching you things, that I should be able to teach others.  Just watch out, cause Mom might have you on that same route, even though you still haven't learned as many things now than I was at your age."

                "Mom was that bad, huh?"  He nodded.

                "There were days, Goten, that I would be studying formulas and equations for nearly fifteen hours at a time.  I would wake up and study till I went to sleep.  Mom had always brought me my food, but she also would reinforce my study habits, and made sure that I wasn't slacking at all.  Of course, she got me that dreaded tutor after the trip to Namek."  He shuddered at the memory of those days.  "Just be glad that Mom has mellowed out a lot over the years."

                "That can't be much then.  She is tough a lot you know."

                "She has changed.  Trust me.  If she's allowing me to go to school, then there has to be a reason for it, besides to study.  I know advanced college material, and I'm only seventeen.  It wouldn't do me good to just send me to school, unless she decided that a diploma would do better than just sending me to college on her on intuition."

                "I think it's more Gohan," Goten said, a rare look of brightness and knowledge on his face.

                "What do you think?"

                "I think she is trying to have you make friends," he said.  "The way I see it, me and Trunks –"

                "Trunks and I," he corrected.

                " – Are the best of friends.  Sure, it may just be one person, but I have a friend.  And I do know you have friends too."  He nodded.  His brother hit the spot.

                "I see where you are getting at.  You believe that Mom is sending me to school to allow me to make friends my age, instead of the ones that are around, like Krillin and Vegeta."

                "I wouldn't call Vegeta a friend, you know… more like a pain in the 'you know what'," Goten said.  Both of them laughed out loud because of it.  Vegeta, in the term "friend", would be more closely defined as either "nemesis" or "archenemy".

                Knowing this strange little fact, Gohan laughed harder.  And he smiled again.

* * *

                "Okay Videl… how bout this?" Kagero asked, holding up a blue t-shirt.  She walked over to her younger sister, taking the piece of cloth from her hands.  She held it up and studied its features momentarily.

                "I'll hang on to it.  I don't think I have anything blue anyway."  She handed it back to Kagero, laying it on her one arm with several other articles of clothing that were already there.

                "I'm not your personal clothes rack, Videl," she said of her discomfort.  It was the third time she said it as well.

                "I'm almost done… hold your horses," she replied.  It was the third time she replied to that as well.  She made her way over to the short's rack, trying to find something to buy for her lower body.  She moved beyond them and came upon a small rack of biker shorts.

                "Videl… you have ten pairs of them already.  You don't need an eleventh."

                "Oh hush.  I just like how they fit.  Don't blame me if they make up most of my clothing collection."

                "I also won't blame you when a guy tries to come along and pinch your ass," Kagero said, earning a surprised look from her older sister.

                "Now where did you learn that word Kagero?"

                "You," she said, pointing her finger – her free finger – at her sister's chest.

                "Me and my damn mouth," she mumbled to herself.  "Well, you shouldn't have to worry about me.  Anyone who dares touch my ass will receive a swift ass kicking that'll leave them incapacitated for two weeks."

                "And you wonder why I have a dirty mouth myself," Kagero mumbled to herself.  Luckily, the older girl didn't hear it.  She had picked up a pair of shorts and held them up, then placed them on her hips, trying to gauge a fit.

                "There.  I'm getting these.  End of discussion."  With that, the girls walked up to the front of the store, preparing to make her purchases.  Kagero let off a silent cheer; finally happy to get out of the hellhole she called the local clothing store.

                Upon making her purchases, she exited the store.  Kagero stood by her side, looking around various points of the mall.  "Where to next?" she asked the child.

                A low rumble from her stomach, coupled a few seconds later with what appeared to be a child yelling the word "food" answered her question.  She looked down at Kagero, a slight blush appearing on her face.

                "Let me guess: you're hungry yet again?"

                "Hey!" she yelled, "it's not my fault!"

                "Oh yes it is."

                "Oh really?"

                "Yeah!" the teen quipped back.

                "How so?" Kagero asked.  This caused the older girl to double take.  She brought her hand to her chin, looking thoughtful for a few seconds.

                "I have to think that one over Kagero," she finally responded.  She began walking away, causing the younger girl to catch up to her.

                "Where to Videl?" she asked.

                "To get something for that well of yours that you call a stomach!"  She looked around, spotting a small pretzel stand off to the right, near the food court.  "Over there… we'll have some pretzels.  How does that sound?" she asked.

                "Sounds good.  I haven't had a good pretzel in a while.  Not since…"

                "Not since the last time you were at a mall?"

                "Yeah," Kagero said, scratching her head slightly.  Her sister laughed, and then moved in line for some pretzels.

                "Videl?"

                "Yeah, Kagero?"

                "Why does father have to leave all the time for something stupid?" the child asked.

                "You mean all those publicity stunts that he flies overseas for?"

                "Yeah."  She thought it over for a moment, trying to figure out the reason why.

                "I think, nowadays, that all these events is where he gets most of his money nowadays."

                "He gets money for showing up in public?" Kagero asked, curious.

                "I would think so."  She stopped talking to the child for a moment, getting up to the front of the line.  She ordered three pretzels: one for herself and two for Kagero.  She also bought a couple of sodas and proceeded to pay.  Leading the way, they found a small, unused bench to sit on.  Kagero began munching on her pretzels, keeping a close ear on what her sister was saying.

                "I don't understand him though," she started again.  "He doesn't train anymore, and with each passing month, he gets more exposure than I could really care for.  It's like he doesn't care for anyone but himself.  Still, nowadays, it looks like he doesn't care for himself."

                "Why would father do this?" Kagero asked.

                "I don't know.  There has to be an underlying reason.  It might have to do with what happened back at the Cell Games, cause that was when things started going poorly."

                "I know.  Hey Videl, have you ever asked him about the Cell Games?"

                "Not recently.  Hell, I don't think I've asked him about it for a few years now at least.  That was also probably when we had held our last decent conversation," she said glumly.

                "I asked him Videl," Kagero started, "not too long ago, if I remember.  He told me what had happened at the games, and how he won over a weakling like him."

                "Your point?"

                "I asked him that same question a year before.  The story he told me most recently was so different from what he told me then that I think he was making all of this up."  She stopped for a moment, seeing if her sister would say anything.  She did.

                "I remember that… well, not what you did.  I had also asked him a couple times as well about the games.  Every time, the version of events he gave were just so skewered that I don't know which is right anymore.  I wish that I could meet someone that was there.  Someone that knows the full truth of what happened."  Unbeknownst to her, someone sneezed rather loudly not very far away.

                "Videl… there is something else you should know.  Something that I have been keeping a secret from you."  This intrigued the teen.

                "A secret?  Is it bad?"

                "Yes," Kagero said.  Strangely, she displayed no emotion.  "I only told Faye-Faye this, and she nearly quit on the spot when I told her."  She looked up at her sister, who nodded, telling her to go on.  "I told you that when I asked father about the Cell Games recently… I had left out something important though.  As I turned around to walk away, he stopped me and held out a picture.

                "I wondered as to why father would give me a picture, of himself no less?  It was then that I noticed a scribble on the bottom.  I held it up closely and saw that I was his signature.  Then I heard him mumble something before walking away."  She paused, collecting her thoughts – and breath.  "He said, 'Here you go kid.  Now get lost, the Champ has business to attend to.'"

                She was in shock.  Her father – the one that she had for so long aspired to reach in strength and skill – had done this, to his youngest daughter of all people.  Anger quickly swelled within herself, and she reached out for something to crush to quell her rising steam.  The armrest became her unfortunate target.

                All the while though, she kept a loose eye on Kagero.  She had finally noticed though the look on the child's face.

                "Kagero… you're not crying.  Why?" she asked.

                "I cried then.  I cried and I cried, but I made sure not to cry in front of you.  I told Faye-Faye, and she was angry.  I told her not to go, cause then all I would have left was you.  She decided to stay, and I also told her to keep this secret from you.  I told her that I wanted to tell you myself.

                "The reason I'm not crying right now is simple, Videl: I can't cry, not after what father had done."  She stopped, leaning back in the chair, finishing off the remnants of her pretzel.  She looked up to her sister, who had now visibly calmed down.  There was now pity coming over her face though.

                "Explain," she simply said.

                "I may cry again, Videl.  It might be over a boy when I get older, or for some odd reason.  Just now… I haven't cried since then.  It hurt too much.  Now… now it is deadweight on my back.  It's holding me down, and it's forcing me not to cry."

                "Father…" she said, a bit too much venom in her voice.

                "Videl, what are you going to do?" Kagero asked.

                "Simple: kick his ass."  She laughed a bit, trying to raise the spirits of her sister.  Fortunately, it was working, but not for very long.

                "Videl, when was the last time you cried?" she asked, taking the older girl by surprise with the blunt question.  As hard hitting as it was, she knew the answer right away.  The memory was etched in her mind.

                "Not since the day Mom died.  I haven't cried since."

                "Okay… that's all I wanted to know."  An uneasy silence fell over the two for a minute or so.

                "Kagero, let's go get you a toy now.  We got to start smiling again.  How does that sound?"

                "That sounds great Videl!" Kagero said, a large smile forming on her face.

                Videl smiled, and they left the bench.  The discussion remained heavy on their minds though.

                Slowly enough, the parallels between them drew closer.

* * *

                "So boys, how did your day go?" Chichi asked upon the return of her two sons.

                "It was great Mom!" Goten said happily.  "Gohan got me this cool robot toy, and he said he was going to help me with putting it together later!"

                "Really now Gohan?" she asked him.  He simply nodded.

                "Don't worry about tripping over it Mom.  The thing is almost as tall as him."

                "That's good.  It's much better than having to trip on his other toys that lie in the hallways at night," she said with a laugh.  "Now I want you two to wash up.  Dinner is almost ready."

                "Yes Mom," they both replied.  They made their way to the bathroom, Goten hopping onto a small stool to reach the sink while his brother stood behind him.  Both washed their hands.

                "Hey Gohan?" Goten asked.

                "Yeah squirt?"

                "Are you going to help me after dinner?"

                "Sure.  I planned on doing so anyway.  I don't think you would have been able to decipher some of the stuff that was there."

                "Okay.  Thanks Gohan!" he said, hopping down from his stool.  That left the teen in the bathroom to himself for a few moments.

                "That girl… she was pretty good looking for all of the two seconds that I saw her," he said, keeping his voice down and to himself.  "Of course, I doubt I will see her again, so I guess I should keep her off of my head.  Still, how can such beauty exist?  Why am I wondering about this though?  Hell, she could be a bitch for all I know.  But then, she had that younger girl there with her.  She might be her sister, and they did look happy being there."  The shouting of his mom interrupted his monologue.

                "Gohan!  Your noodles are getting cold!"

                "Coming Mom!" he shouted back, drying off his hands and moving his way into the kitchen.  The three of them ate dinner in a calm silence.  Chichi and her oldest son were eating at their usual slow pace, and Goten, known to have a huge appetite, slowed down his speed a bit, despite his new robot toy awaiting him in the toy room.  Dinner ended quickly for all three of them.  Goten bounded off into the toy room, ready to rip off the packaging.  The teen was ready to follow, but paused for a second.  He had that nagging feeling on the back of his mind that he needed to quell.

                "Goten, I'll join you in a moment," he said, turning back towards the kitchen to where his mom was, wiping off the last of the dishes.  "Mom… can I ask you something?"

                "Sure Gohan.  What is it?"

                "Do you… believe in love at first sight?" he asked.

                "I do.  If I didn't, then I wouldn't have fallen in love with your dad the first time I saw him."

                "Okay.  Thank you."  He turned around, satisfied with his answer.  Chichi, however, wasn't.

                "Gohan," she called out, "why do you ask?"  He stopped in his tracks, a small bead of sweat forming on his forehead.  He turned around and told her of what happened earlier in the day.  He had only mentioned that part too, for he figured that the rest of his escapades with Goten weren't worth noting completely unless she asked.

                "I don't know what to say Gohan," she said after a few moments of silence.  "Do you think that you'll never see this person again?" she asked him.

                "I doubt that I'll see her again," he responded, wiping his head with his sleeve.

                "Okay.  Then don't worry about it then.  If you don't think that you'll see her again, then it's nothing to get hot and bothered over."

                "Okay Mom."

                "Good, now go off and help your brother before he decides to wreck that new thing you got him before he ever gets the chance to show it off to Trunks."

                "Okay Mom," Gohan said smiling, turning back towards the toy room and to Goten's assistance.

* * *

                "So girls, how did your day go?" Faye asked upon the return of the two girls.

                "It was great Faye-Faye!" Kagero said happily.  "Videl got me this cool stuffed monkey, and now I got something new to put in bed with me when I got to sleep!"

                "Really now Videl?" she asked her.  She simply nodded.

                "Don't worry about having to stumble upon it anyway.  The thing is almost as tall as her."

                "That's good.  It's much better than having to trip on her other toys and stuffed animals that lie in the hallways at night," she said with a laugh.  "Now I want you two to wash up.  Dinner is almost ready."

                "Yes Faye-Faye," they both replied.  They made their way to the bathroom, Kagero hopping onto a small stool to reach the sink while her sister stood behind her.  Both washed their hands.

                "Hey Videl?" Kagero asked.

                "Yeah squirt?"

                "Are you going to help me with naming the monkey after dinner?"

                "Sure.  I planned on doing so anyway.  I assumed that you had wanted me to help you in naming it since I've pretty much helped you with naming just about everything else that's stuffed in your room."                "Okay.  Thanks Videl!" she said, hopping down from her stool.  That left the teen in the bathroom to herself for a few moments.

                "That boy… he was pretty good looking for all of the two seconds that I saw him," she said, keeping her voice down and to herself.  "Of course, I doubt I will see him again, so I guess I should keep him off of my head.  Still, how can such a handsome guy exist?  Why am I wondering about this though?  Hell, he could be a bastard for all I know.  But then, he had that younger boy there with him.  I would figure that he was his younger brother, and they did look happy together.  Well, at least the little kid was, dragging the guy with him."  The shouting of the maid interrupted her monologue.

                "Videl!  Your noodles are getting cold!"

                "Coming Faye!" she shouted back, drying off her hands and moving her way into the kitchen.  The three of them ate dinner in a calm silence.  Faye and she were eating at their usual slow pace, and Kagero, known to have a huge appetite, slowed down her speed a bit, despite her new stuffed monkey awaiting her in the girl's bedroom.  Dinner ended quickly for all three of them.  Kagero bounded off into the bedroom; ready to take out her girl's name book for the monkey.  The teen was ready to follow, but paused for a second.  She had that nagging feeling on the back of her mind that she needed to quell.

                "Kagero, I'll join you in a moment," she said, turning back towards the kitchen to where the maid was, wiping off the last of the dishes.  "Faye… can I ask you something?"

                "Sure Videl.  What is it?"

                "Do you… believe in love at first sight?" she asked.

                "I do.  If I didn't, then I wouldn't have fallen in love with my late husband the first time I saw him."

                "Okay.  Thank you."  She turned around, satisfied with her answer.  Faye, however, wasn't.

                "Videl," she called out, "why do you ask?"  She stopped in her tracks, a small bead of sweat forming on her forehead.  She turned around and told her of what happened earlier in the day.  She had only mentioned that part too, for she figured that the rest of her escapades with Kagero weren't worth noting completely unless she asked.

                "I don't know what to say Videl," she said after a few moments of silence.  "Do you think that you'll never see this person again?" she asked her.

                "I doubt that I'll see him again," she responded, wiping her head with her shirt.

                "Okay.  Then don't worry about it then.  If you don't think that you'll see him again, then it's nothing to get hot and bothered over."

                "Okay Faye."

                "Good, now go off and help your sister before she decides to wreck that new thing you got her before she ever gets the chance to show it off to Lily."

                "Okay Faye," Videl said smiling, turning back towards the bedroom and to Kagero's assistance.

* * *

End Part Two

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this.  Please review.


	3. 0:3 Dreams of a Different Kind

Disclaimer: see Part One.

And incase anyone hasn't seen it yet; here is the link to the teaser image created by Psycho Ann and I.  Figuring by the amount of hits I've received in the last two weeks or so, many people have seen it.  Still, here it is.  **()**

One final note: the next six weeks for me is going to be filled with schoolwork and the like.  Updates will be limited, though I will try to find time to write whenever I can.  Also, 'That Warm and Fuzzy Feeling' won't get updated at the end of March.  I haven't worked on it in a while, but I do hope to get some of it done.  Once May comes around, updates for both my stories should come at a more regulated pace.

And yes, this part is shorter than the others.  I guess it's just how it came out.  Not that many parallels this time.

Oh, and special thanks to my sister for pre-reading this.  She picked out a lot of mistakes in there.

* * *

Parallel and Perpendicular

A romance fiction/story by ShaggyDiz

Chapter Zero: Parallel

Part Three: Dreams of a Different Kind

* * *

                He woke up in a cold sweat; his eyes wide open in the darkness, his breath short and quick.  He wiped his hand across his forehead, clearing away some of the offending beads of water quickly forming along his brow.  He glanced left, seeing if his younger brother was still sleeping.  Listening quickly, he heard a soft snore emanating from the bundle of pillows and blankets that surrounded Goten.  He smiled contently before turning to his right to look at the clock.  It read twelve thirty.

                "Shit," he mumbled softly.  "This is the third night this has happened.  I sleep for close to two hours before this… dream wakes me up."  He rolled out of bed, now a bit pissed that this dream is causing him to lose some night's sleep.  He bent down to pick up a pair of shorts, pulling them on and covering the boxers that served as his only covering in bed, minus the covers.  Slowly, he tracked his way to the bathroom, relieving himself, before heading downstairs to the kitchen for a drink and some mental reflection.

                What he didn't know was that his mom was sitting downstairs in the kitchen already, sitting over a cup of hot chocolate.  "Mom?" he questioned, entering the light of the kitchen.

                "Hey Gohan.  What are you doing up?" Chichi asked him.  He sat down at the table, his tired body telling him to get off of his legs and relax.

                "This dream… I've been having this strange dream for the past three nights now.  Only tonight has it woken me up at this time.  I've been getting a good night's sleep with that dream, and I've remembered it vividly.  But tonight… it's strange Mom."  Chichi mulled over his words for a moment, taking a sip of her hot chocolate to take time.

                "What were you dreaming about?" she asked, to which he promptly blushed.  He tried to hide his face, but rather unsuccessfully, earning a curious look from Chichi.  "Well?"

                "It's sort of embarrassing to think about," he said, his voice slightly above a whisper.

                "Gohan," she started, her motherly attitude springing forward, "you're almost eighteen now.  You shouldn't be embarrassed about this stuff, at least… well; you can be embarrassed in front of me.  I am your mother after all."  She stood up and walked over to the cupboard.  "Care for some hot chocolate?"

                "Please," he responded.  She set to work on getting him some hot chocolate.  Meanwhile, he leaned forward, placing his head in his hands, and propping himself up on the table with his elbows.  "This dream… I find myself in front of this enormous… castle of sorts.  I remember it clearly: it has this large stone build to it, and the front was littered with stain glass windows.  It was Gothic, in a sense.

                "I'm standing there, awaiting the gate to open.  A storm starts… first slowly, with a soft rain coming down.  But soon, it turns violent.  The rain picks up, coming down in torrents, and the wind becomes almost unbearable.  I shout out to someone to open up the gate and let me in.  Someone does hear me though, luckily.  The gate comes down, and I rush inside, going under the cover of an archway.  In the distance, I see a wooden door open.  I rush over to it and enter it.

                "Inside, there is this massive spiral staircase going up close to ten stories.  Half way up, I see someone.  It's hard to see from where I'm at, so I decide to chase after.  I try to fly, wanting to reach this person fast, but find that I can't fly.  So I run up the stairs.  I run up all ten stories of it.  I reach the top, out of breath, and there is another door, same as the one outside.  And slowly, that one opens up."  He paused for a second as Chichi hands him his hot chocolate.

                "This is sounding strange Gohan," she said, matter-of-factly.  He nodded.  He drank a bit from the cup, letting the warmth of the drink wake him up slightly.  His eyes widened a bit more, and his muscles were warming up, coming to life as he sat there, telling his story.

                "So… I enter the door.  The room is pitch black, save for a window to the left side of the room.  I close the door behind me and start to look around.  In far side of the room I see a bed, a rather elegant bed, I might add.  To the left of the bed, I see that person… a girl.  It's hard to tell what she looks like… her body I could see, but not her face.  It was hidden well because of the shadows.  She wore this nightgown that…" He looked up at Chichi.

                "Say it," she said, smirking slightly.  He gulped and nodded.

                "It showed her perfectly.  Her frame was simple, and she wasn't big… up there," he said, pointing to his own self for reference.  "She was pleasing to the eye," he continued.  "I stepped forward slightly, coming closer to the window.  The storm outside, I noticed, was becoming much like a hurricane.  I'm surprised that the window didn't break because of the winds.

                "I ask her for her name, seeing as how I was going to be stuck with her for the time being.  I watched her mouth move… it was the only part of her face not in the dark.  It was a nice looking mouth, I might add.  But… she didn't say anything.  Or rather, I didn't hear anything.  I watched her mouth move: two syllables, but I was unable to understand what she was saying.  I asked her again for her name.  Again, two syllables, but there was no sound.

                "I heard her giggle.  It was a cute giggle… an innocent giggle.  She moved over to the bed and sat down on it.  She motioned me over with her hand.  I take of my jacket and place it by the window, since it is still sopping wet.  I go to the bed and sit down on it.

                "What she did next took me by surprise.  As I sat down, she giggled again, and then proceeded to pull me down on top of her.  I'm half on top of her at this moment, and I look down at her face.  The only thing I still see is her mouth.  She has this large, beautiful smile on her face.  And she says something, but this time, she has a voice."  He paused, taking another drink and collecting his thoughts once more.  He took longer than expected, and Chichi picked up on it.

                "What did she say?" she asked him.  Again, embarrassment showed through on his face.

                "She said to make love to her," he whispered.  He took another drink, and his mom mimicked his movement.

                "What did you do?" she asked.  By now, his embarrassment was gone, relieved that he got out the first part.  His courage had gone up since then, so he didn't hesitate with an answer for the last questioned asked.

                "I made love to her.  And then I woke up."  He paused.  "That is the dream I've been having for the last three nights.  And that last… scene, it always gets more intense each time."  He stopped, finished with his story.  A deafening silence settled between the two.  Chichi was quietly mulling over her son's dream, while he just sat there, wondering what his mom was thinking of at this moment.  Slowly, he got up, preparing to make his way back to his room.

                "Gohan," Chichi said, catching his attention.

                "Yeah?"

                She sighed.  "I don't know what to make of it.  I mean; this is a strange dream, like you said.  I'm no expert, but I think that a recurring dream like this has some sort of hidden meaning.  If you have this one for a couple more nights, or if you get another one similar to this, let me know.  Now go to bed."

                "Okay Mom."  He walked out of the kitchen to the stairway.  He paused for a moment, and looked back at the kitchen.  He walked back to the entrance of it.  "Mom?" he asked.

                "Yeah?"

                "What are you doing up this late anyway?"  Chichi got wide eyed for a moment, before casting her face down slightly and putting a small smile on her face.

                "It's a secret, Gohan.  I'll tell you what it is someday."

                "Okay Mom.  Goodnight."  With that, he left the kitchen.  Moving quietly, he made his way to his room and into his bed without causing a stir from Goten.

                Gohan closed his eyes, and let a smile set on his face as he faded back into slumber.

* * *

                She woke up in a cold sweat; her eyes wide open in the darkness, her breath short and quick.  She wiped her hand across her forehead, clearing away some of the offending beads of water quickly forming along her brow.  She glanced left, seeing if her younger sister was still sleeping.  Listening quickly, she heard a soft snore emanating from the bundle of pillows and blankets that surrounded Kagero.  She smiled contently before turning to her right to look at the clock.  It read twelve thirty.

                "Shit," she mumbled softly.  "This is the third night this has happened.  I sleep for close to two hours before this… dream wakes me up."  She rolled out of bed, now a bit pissed that this dream is causing her to lose some night's sleep. She bent down to pick up her nightgown, pulling them on and covering the undergarments that served as her only covering in bed, minus the covers.  Slowly, she tracked her way to the bathroom, relieving herself, before heading downstairs to the kitchen for a drink and some mental reflection.

                What she didn't know was that the maid was sitting downstairs in the kitchen already, sitting over a cup of hot chocolate.  "Faye?" she questioned, entering the light of the kitchen.

                "Hey Videl.  What are you doing up?" Faye asked her.  She sat down at the table, her tired body telling her to get off of her legs and relax.

                "This dream… I've been having this strange dream for the past three nights now, but tonight was the first time that it's fully roused me from sleeping.  I've been getting a good night's sleep with that dream, and I've remembered it vividly.  But tonight… it's strange Faye."  The maid mulled over her words for a moment, taking a sip of her hot chocolate to take time.

                "What were you dreaming about?" she asked, to which she promptly blushed.  She tried to hide her face, but rather unsuccessfully, earning a curious look from Faye.  "Well?"

                "It's sort of embarrassing to think about," she said, her voice slightly above a whisper.

                "Videl," she started, her motherly attitude springing forward, "you're almost eighteen now.  You shouldn't be embarrassed about this stuff, at least… well… yeah; there is no need to be embarrassed in front of me.  I'm the maid, remember?"  She stood up and walked over to the cupboard.  "Care for some hot chocolate?"

                "Please," she responded.  Faye set to work on getting her some hot chocolate.  Meanwhile, she leaned forward, placing her head in her hands, and propping herself up on the table with her elbows.  "This dream… I find myself in an enormous room.  It was in a castle, if I remember correctly.  The walls were set with large stone bricks, and the window to my right was clear, but set up like a stain glass window.  It was Gothic, in a sense.

                "From my vantage point, I see a rain storm begin.  It starts off slowly, with just a light rain and soft breeze.  But soon it turned violent.  The rain picks up, and it's coming down in sheets.  The wind was howling off of the window.  Suddenly, in the rain, I hear a voice.  I look out the window, and at the entrance, I see a person trying to take cover.  I find the door and run to it, pulling it open and running down the stairs.  It was a long stairwell, and I damn near tripped a few times.  I get to the bottom and see a lever next to the door.  Conveniently, it says 'Gate' about it.  I pull it, and then I leave the door there open, to see if this person comes in.

                "Halfway up the stair, I hear the door at the bottom close.  I look down to see that person at the bottom of the stairs looking up at me.  They start off after me, so I decide to wait back in the room upstairs.  I reach the room and leave it open slightly for the person to come in.  I stand by the bed, waiting for this person."  She paused for a second as Faye hands her the hot chocolate.

                "This is sounding strange Videl," she said, matter-of-factly.  She nodded.  She drank a bit from the cup, letting the warmth of the drink wake her up slightly.  Her eyes widened a bit more, and her muscles were warming up, coming to life as she sat there, telling her story.

                "So… the door opens.  From behind it, the person comes.  And now, I can clearly see that it is a man.  He wore a hooded jacket drenched from the rain, and a pair of black pants and brown boots.  He took a step forward, coming a bit more into the light.  He took off his jacket and placed it on the window.  He wore just one shirt, and that was drenched as well.  It clung to him rather provocatively."  She looked up to Faye.

                "Sounds like a dream man," she said, smirking slightly.

                She giggled and nodded.  "It showed him off perfectly.  His frame was simple, and he wasn't overly muscular… a perfect mix of lean muscle and incredibly low body fat," she said.  

                "He was pleasing to the eye," she continued.  "I looked up to his face and asked him for his name.  All I could see of his face was his mouth.  It was a nice looking mouth as well.  It was strange though… his face was shrouded in darkness.

                "Anyway, I asked his name, but he didn't say anything.  Or rather, I didn't hear anything.  I was his mouth move: two syllables, but I was unable to understand what was being said.  I asked his name again.  Again, I got two syllables, but there was no sound.

                "I heard him chuckled.  It was a nice chuckle… one without malice.  I motioned him to come forward, so I could try and get a better look at his face.  Yet as he stepped closer, his face just got darker.  I couldn't see anything there.

                "What he did next took me by surprise.  As we stood there, he chuckled again, and suddenly swooped forward and picked me up, placing me gently onto the bed.  He came over top of me and looked into my eyes.  Again, all I saw was his mouth.  He has this large, gentle smile on his face.  And he says something, but this time, he has a voice."  She paused, taking another drink and collecting her thoughts once more.  She took longer than expected, and Faye picked up on it.

                "What did he say?" she asked him.  Again, embarrassment showed through on his face.

                "He said to make love to him," she whispered.  She took another drink, and the maid mimicked her movement.

                "What did you do?" she asked.  By now, her embarrassment was gone, relieved that she got out the first part.  Her courage had gone up since then, so she didn't hesitate with an answer for the last questioned asked.

                "I made love to him.  And then I woke up."  She paused.  "That is the dream I've been having for the last three nights.  And that last… scene, it always gets more intense each time."  She stopped, finished with his story.  A deafening silence settled between the two.  Faye was quietly mulling over the teen's dream, while she just sat there, wondering what the maid was thinking of at this moment.  Slowly, she got up, preparing to make her way back to her room.

                "Videl," Faye said, catching her attention.

                "Yeah?"

                She sighed.  "I don't know what to make of it.  I mean; this is a strange dream, like you said.  I'm no expert, but I think that a recurring dream like this has some sort of hidden meaning.  If you have this one for a couple more nights, or if you get another one similar to this, let me know.  Now go to bed."

                "Okay Faye."  She walked out of the kitchen to the stairway.  She paused for a moment, and looked back at the kitchen.  She walked back to the entrance of it.  "Faye?" she asked.

                "Yeah?"

                "What are you doing up this late anyway?"  Faye put on a small smile before responding.

                "I'm just preparing tomorrow's food, Videl.  It's how I've been doing this for years.  Now get.  I have work to do."

                "Okay Faye.  Goodnight."  With that, she left the kitchen.  Moving quietly, she made her way to her room and into her bed without causing a stir from Kagero.

                Videl closed her eyes, and let a smile set on her face as she faded back into slumber.

* * *

End Part Three

* * *

Please review.


	4. 0:4 School's Back From Summer

Disclaimer: See part one.

I don't think I have nothing new to add now.  This particular part took a little bit longer than expected, but it was primarily because of the lack of time I had to work.  I would have also wanted to add more, but this section of the story was long enough to post as the next part.  Part five will continue on with the rest of the day (you'll see as the part progresses).

A quick reminder that I haven't gotten around to telling yet: I've set up a mailing list of sorts for people who wants to know when I'm going to update.  Go to my profile page for instructions.

Thanks to PsYChO and Psycho Ann for the early reads and some helpful suggestions.  They were very much appreciated.

* * *

Parallel and Perpendicular

A romance fiction/story by ShaggyDiz

Chapter Zero: Parallel

Part Four: School's Back From Summer

* * *

                He stood outside of his house, taking in the fresh mountain air.  It was four days since he confronted his mother with his erotic dream.  Since then, the dream had withered away into a mere fantasy, and he hasn't woken up in a cold sweat.  He seemed thankful, although he had liked the dream.  "It seemed so realistic," he wondered aloud at one point.  For now though, he could only say one thing about it: that it was only a dream.

                But now, he stood outside his house, contemplating his agenda.  He had promised his mom that they would head over to Satan City today to register for the upcoming semester at Orange Star High School.  He had guessed correctly when she confronted him two days before about going to high school.  He was ecstatic with the idea all along, and now it refocused his efforts.

                His agenda for the day didn't end with going to Orange Star High.  He promised Goten a lengthy sparring session when he got back to make up on recent times where the boys didn't get a chance to spar.  Goten, of course, happily agreed.  Behind him, he heard the door open, and then close a moment later.

                "Are you ready Gohan?" Chichi asked, coming up from behind him.

                "Yeah," he replied, pointing to the yellow clod he called moments before.

                "Okay."  They moved onto the cloud and took off.  They reached a fairly high cruising altitude before leveling out.  The flight, because of Chichi, would take several hours.  For that reason, they had made sure to leave early.  They departed at exactly eight o'clock, and the registration/testing was scheduled to start at twelve-thirty, giving them plenty of time.

                "By the way Gohan," Chichi said after several minutes of silence, "from what I know, today is apparently an open house of sorts for parents and students."

                "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

                "The principal, when I last talked to him, told me that today was the first day for students to register for their classes."

                "Why now?" he asked, confusion evident.

                "Beats me.  Supposedly, it's all state of the art stuff they use.  That, and it's regulated pretty nicely.  The seniors go today, and the rest of the students go tomorrow."

                "I see.  Would I be considered a senior when I get there?"  He was curious to know where he would get placed.  His mom's strict teaching methods had made him quite smart – too smart for most in fact.  He prided himself on his knowledge, yet didn't go boasting about it.  It was a tool to use, to teach others with.  That's what he wanted, or rather, what was given to him.  There was nothing else to do with this knowledge besides going into a career of education.

                "It depends on how you do on these tests," Chichi said, bringing him out of his thoughts.  "I would guess that they would place you in the junior level at least.  Hell, with the way I taught you, they should graduate you on the spot!"

                "Oh great," he muttered under his breath, "Mom cursing and Mom ranting is two things that never go well together."

                "What was that?"

                "Nothing."  He sighed in relief.  He was glad to be sitting in front so that Chichi wouldn't here him when he didn't want her to.  That, and because he was acting as her wind guard.  "You win some, you lose some" – that's how the quote goes he assumed.

                The ride went in relative silence for most of the time.  The two had made occasional chatter about life in general.  Chichi brought up the possibility of making another shopping trip, to which he would consider doing.  He had asked his mother at one point about whether or not he could take a part time job over at Capsule Corp.  His argument was simple: he would gain hands on experience on trades, technology and communications that his mother couldn't provide.  Chichi said that she would think over the idea as well.  He had already consulted with Bulma about the prospect of working there, and she had agreed to talk with Chichi if she had refused.  Essentially, he planned ahead and had his contingency in place.

                The pair soon came upon a mountain range that, beyond its low-lying peaks, was Satan City.  It was a rather wide mountain range, close to eighty miles across.

                "Mom, what time is it?" he asked, turning his head to the side.  Chichi pulled out her watch to look.

                "Ten forty-five," she said.

                "We made good time," he said, a hint of shock in his voice.

                "Four hundred miles in under three hours, huh?  That's really good timing.  I suspected that it would take longer because of me, but I've barely felt anything back here," Chichi quipped, stifling a giggle.

                His eye twitched.  "I thought of that earlier, didn't I?" he muttered under his breath.

                "What was that?" Chichi asked.

                "Nothing."  He paused for a moment.  "I'm going to take a guess and say that we'll be outside of Satan City by eleven-thirty.  From what I saw, it should only be a fifteen minute walk once we arrive at the city outskirts."

                "Hmm… since we'll have a little extra time, do you want to stop for some food?" she asked him.

                "Sure.  I can use a quick bite right now though," he said, pulling open the bag that he had slung over his shoulder.  He took out an apple.  "Want one?" he offered.

                She declined it.  "I would like a pear or plum if you have any."  He rummaged through his bag some more.

                "Always come prepared," he said matter-of-factly, pulling out a pear and a plum.

                "Why thank you.  I'll take the plum," she said, and they both ate in silence.  Along the way, he had opted to eat the pear after the apple, just to get a little bit more food into his system.  He kept his silence, taking in the mountain air.

                "It feels… different," he said quietly.  His comparison came from the air around the mountains in his house, and the air that he's taking in now.  He realized that it was probably because of the air coming out of Satan City.  Sure enough, as they got closer to the city, the air created from there began to overpower the air in the surrounding mountains.  It wasn't the worst that he has smelled, but it certainly wasn't the best either.

                It was eleven twenty-five when they took their first steps into Satan City.  They decided to stop at any type of food shop they saw along the way to the school, which they started seeing after a few minutes.  The school was tall enough to stand out among the smaller residential houses – the closest one being several hundred yards away from the main parking lot.  They made a stop about five minutes away from the school, which turned out to be an ice cream parlor.  Agreeing on the choice of food, they entered.

                They left the parlor at ten of twelve, thankful that the place wasn't completely full.  They had bought sundaes and ate them at one of the benches inside the parlor.  People passing by wondered why a skinny teen had three sundaes sitting in front of him, but just acknowledged it as an attempt to get some meat on his bones.

                "You have to cut back on your eating habits here Gohan," Chichi said when they left.

                "It's not bad, you know.  I've been eating like a regular person most of my life.  I only binge eat once or twice a week anyway."

                "That's true."

                "Besides," he stated, his finger rose in the air, "Dad was really the only big eater in the family.  Goten has filled that role nicely."

                "At times, it feels as if he eats more than your father," she said, laughing slightly.

                "He's a growing boy Mom.  Don't forget that."

                "How can I?  He's my baby!"

                "But I thought I was your baby," he said, a bit of a pout on his face, though his voice had sarcasm all over it.

                "You still are Gohan," Chichi replied, matching him in sarcastic tones, "you've just gotten too big to put on my lap nowadays."  A little cheek tug finished off his embarrassment.

                "When will it end?" he muttered under his breath.  He realized too late that he spoke too soon.

                "We're here!" his mom stated.  They were standing at the end of the sidewalk that led to the main entrance.  Several people snickered as they passed, adding to the teen's embarrassed state.

                He was clearly agitated with the current situation.  "Can we go in now?" he asked.

                "I don't see why not.  I can see I've embarrassed you enough as it is."  It was clear that she knew what she was doing, adding to her son's rising anger.

                "Fine.  Let's go," he said, a bit more bite than necessary, but it didn't faze Chichi.  He walked off ahead of her and entered the building; the first thing catching his eye was the large amount of students and parents already walking in the lobby.  He couldn't find where to go though.

                His mom came up beside him, taking in the large amount of students as well.  "This was kind of like that time your father and I tried to enroll you into an elementary school.  These people seem more fanatical though."

                "It seems like it."  He went silent for a second, allowing himself to listen to the conversations happening all around him.  His focus was on the students, and most of the discussions sounded alike to him.  "Most of these people are catching up with each other."

                She nodded.  "Shall we get to the main office now?"

                "Sure."  They started forward, but stopped after three steps.  He looked down to Chichi, who in turn looked up to her son.

                "Where's the office at?" they asked simultaneously.

                "It's the first door on the right to the left of the lobby," a random student told them, overhearing their comment.

                "Thank you," he said to the student.  He looked him over briefly: long blonde hair, large, bulky arms and an attitude that clearly said 'jock'.  "My name's Gohan.  I'm taking the placement exam today."

                "Really now?  You transfer here?" the boy asked.

                He thought it over for a second.  "You could say that."

                "Come on Gohan.  We have to go sign in," Chichi said.

                "Right."  He stuck out his hand to shake.  "It was nice to meet you, um…"

                "Sharpener," he said, shaking his hand.

                "It was nice to meet you Sharpener.  See you around."  They walked past him, following Sharpener's directions towards the main office.  He turned the corner and didn't bother to look back behind him, never seeing the look of possible recognition on one girl's face.

                They came upon a door that read, at the top, "Principal's Office".  They went inside, finding a couple people in there.  "Good," he said.  "This is going to be a short wait."

                "Let's get in line then.  I think that's the sign up sheet up there."

                "All right."  He got in line, patiently waiting for the people to move up.  It wasn't long before he reached the desk and signed in.  But as he did, he got a strange feeling within himself – a feeling of familiarity.  He stood up straight and turned to look at the door.

                "Mom… I'll be back in a second," he said.

                She looked up from the magazine that she found.  "Okay Gohan.  Don't be too long. I think they're planning on moving the students to the test room soon."

                "Okay."  He walked over to the door, opening it and stepping into the hallway.  Standing in the middle of it, he started looking around, first to his left, where the lobby was only a few feet away.  Then he turned to his right.  For a brief second, he saw a braided lock of black hair.  "The hair… it looks oddly familiar."  He walked down the hallway, casually trying to avoid people as he reached the end of it.  As he reached it, he looked down the hallway where he saw the hair go down.  There were too many people, and he couldn't see anyone that had that braided lock of black hair.

                "Strange," he mumbled.  He was slow going back to the principal's office, thinking about whom that lock of hair belonged to.  He couldn't place his finger on it, but he had thought of just one person.  "I doubt it was her… though I didn't get a good look at her hair before.  If I had only saw her face…"

                He left that sentence open, going back into the office, seeing his mom standing up.  "Gohan, they're starting to move people down to the room where the test is going to be administered.  I'll go down there with you, and then I'm going to take a walk around the neighborhood."

                "Are you going to be all right?" he asked her.

                She laughed a little.  "Gohan, you forget that I'm able to defend myself as much as you, minus the energy.  Besides, I don't want to be bunched up here for three hours while you take the test."

                "Three hours?" he said, shocked, and a little too loudly for some.  A few odd stares went his way, all of them he ignored.  "Three hours?" he repeated, this time a harsh whisper.

                "I forgot to tell you, huh?" she said, scratching her chin in mock thought.

                "Forget it.  I'm going.  I'll see you in three hours."  He bent down and gave his mom a kiss on the cheek.

                "What?  You don't want me coming with you?" she asked.

                "Mom, you've embarrassed me enough today.  One more time and I might lose a bit of my sanity."

                "You're not serious," she said, a bit worried.

                A goofy smile slowly formed on his face.  "Of course not.  You're my Mom.  You're supposed to embarrass me every moment you get in public, remember?"  He gave her one last hug.  "I love you Mom.  Wish me luck."

                "Good luck Gohan!" she said to his retreating form.

                Gohan smiled as he walked.  It was a good day.

* * *

                She stood outside of her house, taking in the late morning air.  It was four days since she confronted her maid with her erotic dream.  Since then, the dream had withered away into a mere fantasy, and she hasn't woken up in a cold sweat.  She seemed thankful, although she had liked the dream.  "It seemed so realistic," she wondered aloud at one point.  For now though, she could only say one thing about it: that it was only a dream.

                But now, she stood outside her house, contemplating her agenda.  She had to head over to Orange Star High School to register for the classes she would be taking in her last year there.  She had to get her friend Erasa though, which was why she was leaving now.  Erasa lived close to the outer edge of town opposite that of the high school, and that was the same distance from the two teens house.  An equilateral triangle – if it were to be used – would fit at an exact point somewhere in each of those three places.

                Her agenda for the day didn't end with going to Orange Star High.  She promised Kagero a lengthy sparring session when she got back to make up on recent times where the girls didn't get a chance to spar.  Kagero, of course, happily agreed.  Behind her, she heard the door open, but she didn't hear it shut, prompting her to turn around.

                It was Faye.  "You have everything you need?" she asked the teen.

                "I think so.  There really isn't much to do today anyway," she said, waving it off with her hand.  "We just go in, sign up for each teacher, and then leave.  Simple."

                "You forgot to mention your ever jubilant friend Erasa."

                "Ah yes, Erasa.  I could never forget about her."  Her voice had a hint of mock anger and sarcasm in it.

                "Videl, Erasa is a fun girl.  I'm surprised you didn't call her at all!"

                "Well that's because she always called me!  And besides, you know how I hate using that damn phone!  I prefer talking to people on the computer anyway.  It's so much easier."

                Faye sighed after hearing this.  "You kids and your technology today: it makes things so much easier.  I remember back in the day, we never had computers.  Everything was done by horse and buggy."

                "Um… Faye… you're not that old," she said, a bead of sweat forming on the back of her head.

                "Oh, I know," she said, giving off a stupid smile.

                "Why do I have to put up with this sometimes?" the teen asked under her breath.

                "What was that?"

                "Nothing.  I have to get going now."  With that, she popped out her jet-copter and proceeded to get onboard.

                "What time are you getting home?" Faye asked.

                "Around three I think.  Like I said: it shouldn't take me long.  Tell Kagero to start warming up at around two forty-five, okay?  Bye Faye!"  She closed the door, turning on the copter and lifting off, leaving a waving Faye on the front lawn.

                It was eleven forty when she left for Erasa's house.  She would have left sooner, if it weren't for the fact that she had overslept.  There was an afternoon party the day before, which included her, Erasa, and a bunch of people that she tolerated from time to time.  She was glad though, if only for a little while.  While most of the teens there didn't know about her home life, they didn't become her friend simply because of the fame she radiated.  It was pleasing to her that she would have people to talk to without having to gag on the "greatness" of her father.  Still, she kept up her stubborn façade, mostly because it worked, and also because she was stubborn as all hell.  It grew on her though, mostly due to Erasa and Sharpener: the former because of her (more often than not) air headedness, and the latter because of his (more often than not) exulting cockiness and constant flirtations with her.  She didn't know whether or not it was Sharpener who made her not date in general, as she had a (occasional) close-minded feeling on guys in general.

                Well, that and because of the "suitors" that her dad constantly introduced to her.

                "Next time, I'm killing the bastard that tries to sweet talk his way into my pants.  Except for Sharpener of course, since she would threaten to beat me up."  She smirked, as "threatened" was the operative word in her statement.  It was part of the reason why she had overslept.  Erasa had spent the better part of the night – or early morning, depending on how people saw the time – going over the fabulous day she had.  It took three hours of constant babbling about Sharpener for the blonde to get to the point: Sharpener had finally asked her to be his girlfriend.

                "Took three fucking years to do it too.  Now he can leave me alone."  She yawned, evidence of her long night.  "I'm going to kick her ass though.  Yeah… I'll do that, then spar with Kagero, then go to sleep.  Perfect."

                She arrived at Erasa's house at eleven forty-nine, slowly descending onto the street – effectively blocking traffic on that street – while Erasa stood at the sidewalk, anxious for her ride to school.  She landed and opened the door for the blonde, and from there, she went on as if yesterday didn't end.

                "Videl!  He called me today!  He called me today!  He called, and I was like, 'My hero'!  I told him that I dreamt about him all last night and that he is such a great guy, and… and… um," she paused, clearly out of thoughts after five seconds.  But then, "oh yeah!  Where the hell were you this morning?"

                She cringed.  She had always expected this from Erasa: turning on all ten cylinders in forward before making a complete one-eighty in something else.  She sighed, and then, as calmly as she could – a miracle in itself – she turned to the girl and said: "I overslept because of you.  I want to get to school now.  Close the damn door."  She didn't wait for the door to get completely closed, for when she lifted off, a quick scream was heard, followed by the passenger door slamming shut.  That was followed three seconds later by a fuming Erasa turning to look at her friend.

                "What the hell was that for?  I could have fallen out of this thing!" the blonde screamed, mere inches from her friends face, a vein comically throbbing on the fist waving to the side of her head.

                She had a hard time trying to keep a straight face.  "Erasa… you know I would never let that happen.  You just have to realize when I'm in the mood for things and when I'm not in the mood for things."

                "And let me guess," Erasa started, still red faced and fuming, "you weren't in the mood?"

                "Exactly.  Now, you know I am very happy for you.  I didn't get to sleep till three in the morning though!  And you knew we had to go to school today to register!"

                "But Videl!"

                "No buts Erasa!  I'm cranky and I've heard enough of your chatter about Sharpener already!"  She stopped talking after that, calming her anger down to keep control over the copter.  Erasa was far from done, or rather, had more material to move onto: the girl that was flying the aircraft.  She started giggling, but soon fell into an uncontrollable laughter.  "What's wrong now?" she asked the blonde.  She only sounded irritated now, as her anger had subsided enough.

                "I know why you're so cranky," Erasa giggled out.

                She gave her a sideways look.  "Enlighten me."

                "You don't have a boyfriend."

                "That _doesn't_ enlighten me."

                "I'm not finished."  She paused for dramatic effect.  "You're just not getting any."

                "Same with you.  What's your point?" she responded, on a roll right now.  Erasa was befuddled.

                "I'm going to be getting some soon you know," she said, adding a point to her scoreboard.  Strangely, it came up beside her in the form of a white board and marker.

                "If you turn into a slut, I won't talk to you again," she responded seriously.  One point removed.

                "You wouldn't dare do that?  You know that!  Sure, I may look like one, but I'm still a virgin.  Why do you think I waited three years for Sharpener?" Erasa shouted out.  One point added.

                "Ah, so you knew he's been waiting for three years.  Do me a favor and stay together for more than three years."  One point removed.

                "Videl!  Why are you so rude?"

                "I'm not rude.  I'm blunt.  The two go very well together.  Besides, I'm looking into your best interests.  I've seen you hurt by a bunch of guys before."

                "But Sharpener is different!"

                She sighed.  "I might have to agree.  I may not like him all too much.  Besides you though, he's been a good friend to me.  Just… be careful.  And please stay with him."

                "I will!  Oh thank you Videl!" Erasa cried out, reaching over to hug her friend.  She held up a finger though.

                "I'm flying.  Hug later."

                The remainder of the flight – all three minutes of it – went in silence.  It was about noon when they landed in the high school parking lot.  They entered the school lobby, glancing around momentarily, seeing if they could find anyone to talk to.

                But then she saw a tall figure turning down the left hall.  It was a brief glance, but she had seen wild black hair on the person's head.  "It can't be…"

                She started moving down through the lobby, effortlessly weaving through the crowd of students and parents.  She was halted by a screech behind her, and a very recognizable name.

                "Sharpener!" the voice cried out.  "How have you been?  I haven't talked to you in like, thirty minutes!"  Erasa ran the short distance to Sharpener, jumping into his arms a good five feet away, and ended up hugging each other ferociously in the lobby.

                She was tempted to shout, "Get a fucking hotel room" to the two blondes, but she had decided otherwise.  The large amount of people in the hall – faculty and parents included – would pretty much embarrass her more than what the couple were doing now.  She opted for the more mellow approach: she walked up to them – disgusted with every closer step – and whispered harshly: "Either stop now, or I will kick your asses repeatedly.  This isn't the place for this."  The blondes stopped what they were doing to look at their friend, slightly hurt.

                "Oh come on Videl.  We haven't seen each other since last night!" they said in near perfect unison.  She turned, shouting an inaudible curse and throwing her hands up.  She went down the lobby and turned to the left hallway, hoping to see what she thought she saw.

                Nothing.

                "Damn.  Too many people."  She started down the hall again.  Erasa and Sharpener came up from behind her, talking quietly amongst themselves.

                "What's up with her?" Erasa asked.

                "No idea.  It's like she's on a hunt or something."

                "Strange.  Oh hey, any new people come through?"

                "Actually, I met one already.  His name was Gohan, if I remember correctly.  He seemed like a real nice kid."

                "That's cool.  Oh look.  There she is.  We might as well grab her and head off to the second floor.  We have to make sure all of us get into the same classroom together."  She grabbed his hand, dragging him along.  They spotted their friend looking off to the right, where their hallway ended and a new one began.

                "Hey Videl!" Erasa shouted.  "We're heading upstairs now.  We'll meet you up there if you stop whatever little thing you're doing."  With that, they were off.  She looked off to where her two blonde friends were going to, and decided to give up there.

                "Strange," she mumbled.  She walked off to the left, down the hallway that led to the main stairwell to that side of the building.  She didn't bother turning around, or looking down back to the lobby, missing the look of possible recognition on one boy's face.  Still, she couldn't place her finger on it, but she had thought of just one person.  "I doubt it was him… though I didn't get a good look at his hair before.  If I had only saw his face…"

                Videl shrugged, then smiled.  No need to worry about anything, just what the day had in store for her.

* * *

End Part Four

* * *

I hope you enjoyed.  Please review.


	5. 0:5 Talk Soap

Disclaimer: see Part One.  Any names used here are made up, and do not reflect any real world personalities.

Brief A/N: Just a reminder that there really isn't much in the way of plot movement.  I apologize now, and there will be some movement in the next couple parts.  I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but everything I'm writing will setup something one way or another down the line.  Please be patient, and I hope you enjoy this part.  We are now more than halfway through Chapter Zero.

* * *

Parallel and Perpendicular

A romance/fiction story by ShaggyDiz

Chapter Zero: Parallel

Part Five: Talk Soap

* * *

                "Good afternoon students.  My name is Mr. Amazuki, and I am the principal of Orange Star High," the short, pudgy man stated to the teenagers in the room.  The room currently held all of the transfer students that had made the switch from their old schools to this one.  All of them, of course, except for one half-Saiyan, though one would argue that his was a special case, and yet, not a special case.  He was never in a school, but at the same time, he was transferring from his mother's system to a new one.  It was quite the change; the simple fact he knew all too well.

                "Today is a special day for you all," the principal continued.  "Today unofficially marks the first day of the rest of your high school careers.  For most of you, it will be just one year until graduation.  For the rest of you, the junior class program will fit your needs.  Of course, it all determines today on the tests currently on the desk behind me.

                "For the next two and a half hours, each of you will be administered three tests: all equaled in content and all able to meet the challenges of the high school level.  All three tests will be forty-five minutes in length, with a five-minute break in between each test.  This will be timed strictly, so the faculty here will know when time is up.

                "The first test given will be a math comprehension test.  It consists of elementary math functions, algebraic functions, and geometry.  There are fifty questions on the test, so you should be sufficiently challenged for the duration of the time.

                "The second test we will be giving is a grammar test.  No surprise there: it will consist of advanced grammar functions that you will be asked to figure out.  Grammar and knowledge of Japanese is required to graduate this high school, so please take this very seriously."  He paused for a moment, drawing in a deep breath.

                "The final test will be a history and geography test.  Again, this is required to graduate this high school.  The first half of the test will ask you to explain certain instances in Earth's history, most of it predating the time of Cell.  The second half is basic geography.  You will only be required to know the certain states and cities on the main continent, as well as some of the islands located around it.

                "The requirement for making it to the senior class will be an eighty percent cumulative average on all three of the tests.  Anyone that makes below an eighty will be placed in the junior class.

                "I wish you all the best of luck.  I need to be off now, so the faculty here will be taking care of anything and everything you need for these tests.  You have…" he paused, looking down at his watch, "two minutes until the first test will begin.  Good luck."  With that, Mr. Amazuki took his leave.

                "Three tests, huh?" he asked himself, making a final check on his pencils.  His mom told him before that only pencils were to be used.  He realized now how simple these tests would be.  "This should be a breeze, I suppose.  I just have to be careful and not do these tests too fast."  As he formulated his plan for the tests, a teacher stood up.

                "Okay everyone!" she shouted above the murmur of the students.  "Please return to your seats so that we may hand out the tests."  The few students who had opted to get up had returned to the seats they had chosen earlier.  The teachers there – three total – began handing out the first test booklet and an answer sheet.  It had taken less than thirty seconds for the three of them to finish the task.  The one that had spoken before reached for a stopwatch by her desk, then looked up at the clock on the wall.

                "Remember students: you have forty-five minutes to complete the test.  Ready… and begin!"  With that, she clicked on the watch, matching it perfectly with the clock on the wall.  All of the students proceeded to open their booklets to begin the test.

                He had looked over the first page of the test, looking at what he had to do.  _Basic triple and quadruple digit adding functions?  Piece of cake._  He started through the problems, quickly getting done the first page – mostly adding and multiplication – in just under three minutes.  He proceeded to the second page, which started the algebraic functions.

                Gohan smirked to himself, and continued on with the test.

* * *

                "Good afternoon seniors.  Today is the unofficial first day of the last year of your high school careers!" the young female teacher shouted out happily, attempting to get the students in attendance to get excited – and her attention, in general.  She succeeded quite nicely, getting a good happy shriek from most of the girls and a loud 'whooping' sound from the boys.  The only one unexcited was she, but that was typical of her.  She only scoffed in boredom at how excited everyone got for one simple little thing: graduation.

                _Now that I think about it_, she thought, _graduation _is_ a reason for being happy.  Oh well.  It'll get me out of this hellhole._  It was clear that her mood had barely changed from earlier: her ritualistic morning-PMS mood had now drifted over into the early afternoon.  It usually took three hours or so for her to come out of this and become tolerable around people.  Essentially, she prayed that no one would annoy her in the next hour, or hell would be paid.

                Her thoughts were ended as the cheering and hollering stopped, and the teacher prepared herself to continue with the discussion.  "Now, I know all of you have done this before, but since you only do this once a year, I will explain to you how this goes.  Each of you already has a predetermined homeroom and classes picked.  For most of you, all of your classes will be in your designated homeroom.  All of you have the option of deciding whether or not you want the classes you have set before you.

                "Also, I believe I should mention now, that everyone here is in the same homeroom together.  Get used to each other now, for you will be spending a lot of time with them this year."  She sighed, glad to have both Sharpener and Erasa in her homeroom.  She knew she had someone to talk to if her classes turned out to be boring.

                "I should also mention that there is a new homeroom this year: twelve-nine.  This will make the chance for changing classes this year even easier, as the extra homeroom will move students out of other various homerooms, allowing for more seating in each of the classes.  The last time I checked, there were close to ten empty seats in each of the rooms."  To this, the students made some chatter at the prospect of being able to find a better class if needed.  Some of them pulled out their phones and started text messaging – a relatively new feature for the cell phones on the main continent – to all of their friends, relaying the message that they already knew: they have a greater chance at getting into the same class together.

                "Now, for the actual class selection.  If you are satisfied with the classes that have been picked for you, then verify that you are the person in the file and press 'Submit'.  That will lock your classes and prevent you from making any new choices.  If you have to make any changes, all you have to do is click on that class, and then a sidebar menu will pop up, showing you the options of other classes like this available.  Also, since everything is on multiple cable lines, updates are done almost instantaneously.  There is practically no lag when you're doing this.

                "Now that you all know how to do this, you can open the envelopes that I gave you when you came in," she said, picking up the closest student's white envelope as an example.  "This contains your login information.  I leave all this up to you at this point.  If you have any questions, I'll be in the back of the room.  Good luck to you all!"  With that, the students assumed positions at each of the available desks.  There were only ten computers in the room, so only half the class had the chance to go at the time.  The three friends had to wait, slow to the task of getting to an available computer.

                "Wow!  I can't believe that the three of us are going to be in the same class this year!" Erasa piped out, her usual abundant excitement showing through.

                "Hoorah," the black hair teen replied, giving her answer in one sarcastic word.

                "You know Erasa… I don't think Videl wants to be here today," Sharpener said, trying hard not to make his hushed statement and very blatant pointing obvious.

                "You know I can hear you.  I'm not deaf."

                "I think you're right Sharpie.  I don't think she got enough sleep last night," Erasa replied to her boyfriend, using the nickname, which, strangely enough, she had just come up with now.  It was clear that the couple wasn't paying attention to their now pissed friend.

                "It's like I'm not here you guys."

                "Well, her fault then.  She knew that she had to come here today.  Did she explain why she didn't get enough sleep?"

                "Am I fucking invisible or what?"

                "She said something about me rambling on about you for a couple hours last night.  You know she could have shut me up at any point."

                "Fuck this… I'm giving up."

                "You're right about that.  You know how pissed off she gets when you talk about boys in front of her."

                "This is my life.  Fucking shoot me for crying out loud."

                "I know.  Why do you think I like doing that to her?  And don't answer that: it's…. rhetorical, or whatever that big word is."

                "Ah look… a computer's open."

                "I think I will.  She needs a guy in her life.  Once that happens, then maybe she can mellow out some."

                "Name and password… that was simple enough."

                "I told her that already today!  And, as usual, she just brushed it off like nothing."

                "Videl Satan… welcome… I know.  That's my fucking name."

                "Hmm… hey, maybe I can find that guy I bumped into earlier.  He didn't look too… what's that word Videl always uses?"

                "Hate him… fuck, stuck with him.  Hate her… fuck, stuck with her too."

                "Um… roach-infested scum?"

                "Ugh… my head is starting to hurt a lot."

                "Yeah, something like that.  Has she called me that before?"

                "This year is going to fucking suck."

                "Probably.  She usually says that about guys in her sleep."

                "Hey, I'm done.  One of you want this now?"

                "I see.  Slumber party?"

                "Guys?"

                "Yeah.  The old days were fun like that."

                "Guys?"

                "Tell me about it.  Just think though: in ten months, we're out of here."

                "…"

                "Oh I know!  I'm so excited."

                "Hey, they're not paying attention to me.  You can have this."

                "Same here.  We got to go and celebrate!"

                "Yeah, I know… fucking morons those two are."

                "Hey Videl!" Erasa shouted, finally acknowledging her friend.

                She made the point to inform her.  "About fucking time.  I already registered while you two were going off on something stupid."

                "Hey, watch your language Videl!  You know how my ears are sensitive to that," the blonde hair girl retorted.

                "Yeah!  Watch your mouth around my girl!" Sharpener added.

                "Will you two just cut it out?  My head is pounding because of you."  She paused for a second, taking in a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.  "Go ahead and register you two.  I'm going outside for some air.  Get me when you're done… we'll go out for some ice cream I suppose."

                "Yay!" Erasa shouted, jumping up from her chair and ensnaring her friend in a vice-like hug.

                "Good.  Now let go," she said, her life being drained out of her.

                "Sorry."  She paused, and then: "Hey wait.  You registered without us?  And you didn't save us a computer at all?  What kind of friend are you Videl?"

                All Erasa got for an answer was a dumb look and a finger, pointing to two open computers.  "Ah… right.  Sorry."

                She sighed.  "Children," Videl said, smirking as she did so.  She left the room moments later.

* * *

                He sat back in his chair, his hands locked behind his head.  The look on his face was neutral: he didn't want people to look at him after he had completed the math test in twenty-five minutes and see him gloat in achievement.  He was smart, and like he told himself before, he took pride in that.  There was no need to announce to the world that he was a genius.

                It was now one fifteen, exactly forty-five minutes after the test started, which had also signified its ending point.  As the teachers came around to collect the tests, he raised his hand to get the attention of one of them.  "Yes?" the closest one asked him.

                "Would it be okay if I used the bathroom?  I know the next test starts in five minutes, but I'll be quick," he asked her.

                "I don't see the problem with that.  Just make sure you do get back soon, or we'll start the test without you."

                "I see.  Thank you."  With that, he got up and left the classroom.  The closest bathroom was down an adjacent hallway, so that was where his feet led him.  Soon enough, he came upon it and entered, finding out that within this bathroom was the boy that helped him out earlier: Sharpener.

                "Hey," he said, getting his attention.  Apparently he startled him, causing him to accidentally get urine on his hands.

                "Hey Go- ah shit!" the blonde said, the delayed reaction clearly evident.  He quickly zipped himself up and moved away from the urinal, moving to the sink to wash his hands.

                "Sorry about that," he apologized.

                "No problem.  Taking a piss I presume?"

                "Yeah… I'm taking a leak."  It was rare for him to curse – despite the fact that he did it a lot on occasion – but he felt no need to impress others with the explicit language.

                "I hear you.  I guess you need to since you've been cramped up in that room for a while now.  How are those tests coming along anyway?" Sharpener asked.

                "We just got done the first one actually… kind of a breeze, really."

                "Yeah?  That's cool.  I wish I could do these tests pretty fast, but of course, I'm not the smartest person around.  One of my girlfriend's friends is though, so I get help from her sometimes."

                "I see.  What year are you, if I may ask?"

                "Senior.  Why?"

                "Well, if the next two tests goes like the first one did, then it'll be safe to assume that I'll be in your class."

                "Really now?  You're that smart?" he asked, shocked a bit.

                "Yeah.  If you want to know the truth, my mom taught me most of my knowledge.  I've been home schooled most of my life, so this is the first time I've been to a real school, or made any real friends."

                "Ah, okay.  You know… I can help you out around here.  There are some gangs here that believe they're in charge of things, so you might need some muscle to prevent yourself from getting any beatings."

                "I… see," he said, a little disbelieved.

                "Yeah.  I've seen it happen sometimes too: they stalk on a poor, unfortunate first year or transfer, and then they pants them and steal their money.  It's never a pretty sight."  At that moment, they heard the bathroom door being slammed on, followed by a yell of "Sharpener", and then followed by another yell, this one higher pitched than the other one, trying to keep the lower and much meaner voice calm.

                "What was that?" he asked, confused.

                "My girlfriend's friend… she's a bit pissed off you see.  We said that we would meet her after we got registering for classes and she found us down the hall a bit making out in a closet.  Erasa and I just got together yesterday you know."

                "Understandable," he said, nodding.

                "Well, it was nice talking to you Gohan.  And good luck with those tests!"

                "Thanks!  And good luck with the girls."

                Sharpener laughed.  "Thanks, I need it."  With that, he left the bathroom.

                He stood in front of the sink, washing his hands after going to the bathroom – most of the conversation took place with him standing in front of the urinal – while listening to one of the girls literally chew out Sharpener.  "That must really suck, getting a new one torn like that."  The yelling was becoming quieter, which he took as them moving into another part of the school.  He dried his hands off and left the bathroom, just as the trio made a left turn down the far hallway.

                He got back to the room just in the nick of time, as the teachers had begun handing out the second test booklets.  It was obvious to him that these books were larger than the first ones, causing him to cringe slightly.  "I guess this one will take me a little bit more time," he muttered to himself.

                "Ah, Mr. Son," the teacher said.  It was the one that had excused him to the bathroom earlier.  "Glad you got back on time," she said genuinely.

                "Thanks.  Next test?" he asked.

                "Yeah.  Here you go."

                "Bring it on," Gohan said, ready to take on the next test.

* * *

                She leaned back in the bench, locking her hands behind her head.  The look on her face was neutral, though now it was bordering on the edge of anger.  She had sat there for twenty-five minutes now, slowly losing her patience, as she waited for her friends to get there.  She had thought of going several times to fetch them, figuring that they might be in the room still.  But now it was one-oh-five.

                She was ready to snap.

                "I'm going now," she whispered to herself.  "If I catch them in a closet, I'm hanging them."  And so she went, walking through the lobby, peeking in rooms – though not bothering with the closets just yet – and scanning the girl's room, thinking that maybe they had gone to the bathroom on their own occurrence.

                It was one-ten when she thought she heard some hushed whispers and giggles from a closet.  She prepared herself for the worst, taking hold of the knob and jiggling it slightly.

                "Oh shit Sharpener," a whispered voice – clearly Erasa – said.  "Quick, we got to hide!  Someone is coming in!"

                "But where?" the boy – already revealed by his girlfriend – asked as quietly as her.

                She smirked.  It was the only thing to do at a time like this.  But then she remembered what she told herself earlier.  So then she decided to start the beatings.

                She pulled open the door roughly and glared in, spotting her two friends – both fully clothed, luckily – trying desperately to find a place to hide from the person coming in.  The shock on their faces showed that it was clearly quite the opposite of who was opening the door.

                "Videl!" they cried out.

                "Get out here now so I can kick your asses!"  She was clearly pissed off, and she had made the grim mistake of lunging into the closet to grab them.  Oddly enough, Sharpener pushed Erasa to the right as he dove to the left, letting the black haired girl dive right between them and nearly smack herself into the back of the closet.  He quickly grabbed his girlfriend's hand and pulled her out of the closet, both running for their lives.  They looked back for a brief second while running and saw the closet literally explode outward, with their friend standing in the middle of the rubble, steam somehow coming out of her ears.  She slowly cocked her head to the side, and they shuddered when they saw her eyes.

                The word "pissed" was thrown out the window that day.

                "Damn it Erasa!  You're slowing me down!"

                "Well excuse me if I'm not in shape!"

                "Really?  I thought you worked out to get that look!"

                "Sharpener!  It's all-natural!  Don't make me hurt you after Videl does!"

                "What?  It's a compliment!  I think…"

                Erasa growled, something that scared Sharpener immensely.  "That's it!  You're dead!"  She tried pulling on his hand, trying to slow him down.  He saw what she was doing, and decided to just ditch her completely instead of having to face his girlfriend's wrath as well as her best friend's wrath.  Speaking of which:

                "If you don't stop right now, I'm going to make your pain twice as hard!" she seethed out.

                So Sharpener decided to ditch his girlfriend.  He let her go, letting her stumble and fall down, landing roughly on her stomach.  He continued on, silently thanking his (occasional) brainpower for deducing something as brilliant as this.

                Erasa, meanwhile, was silently praying for her safety, for as soon as she fell, she turned around and saw her friend running straight for her.  She put her arms up; trying to cover her face from whatever violence the black haired girl was going to throw at her.  She screamed when she was a step away, and Erasa continued screaming as she hurdled over the blonde, continuing down the hall.  She stopped screaming, seeing her life out of danger.

                Then a thought struck her: "She's after Sharpener.  She's after Sharpener!  No one can kick his ass but me!"  And so the chase was on yet again.

                Sharpener, luckily, had finally found a bathroom to hide in.  He slid in there and leaned back against the door, slowly regaining his lost breath.  Outside, his first attacker stood at the door he was in.  She was ready to pound the door in when Erasa had suddenly come up from behind her, grabbing her wrist while also wrapping her arm around her waist, attempting to stop her friend.

                "Videl!  Don't knock down that door!"

                "And why not?" she yelled back at the blonde holding on for dear life.

                "Cause it's the boys room!"

                "I don't care!"

                Erasa gasped.  "Videl!  Its forbidden territory!  Don't you know that?"

                "Of course I know!" she cried out.  It was the unwritten rule of the halls: the girls were forbidden from entering the boys room, for fear of what odorous smells they would find when stepping in there, and the boys were forbidden from the girls room for much the same reasons.  It was only among the students, though, since the janitors and high faculty members could go into the bathroom of the opposite sex, mostly to disrupt illegal activity, and in the janitors case, to clean.

                Erasa had managed to drag her friend towards the girls' room, hoping to calm her down some before they left.  They got in there just as a tall, black haired boy stepped around the corner, on his way to the bathroom.

                "You!" she said, pointing to Erasa, her anger still flowing over the top.  It was the only thing she did say, as she realized that it was the wrong person she wanted to vent at.  She dropped her hand and leaned back against the wall.

                "You okay Videl?" the blonde asked, wary of her friend's state.

                "No.  My head hurts."  She looked up and gave her a slight smirk.  "It's your fault, you know."

                "Hey, don't look at me.  It was Sharpener's idea."

                "I figured as much.  The male species has such limited thinking.  'Making out' and 'sex' is probably the only things that were on his head at the time."

                Erasa had to giggle at that.  "I know!  You should have heard him.  He was like: 'Oh, oh Erasa!  I can't go another moment without touching you!  Oh!' and I was like: 'But Sharpener, what about Videl?' and so he said: 'What Videl?  I only got eyes for you,' and I said – "

                "Okay, okay.  I get it," she said, cutting off her friend from saying anything more.  She looked down at her watch.  "You ready to get him?"

                "Sure."  They left the bathroom, walking the small distance to stand outside of the boys' room.  "Oh Videl.  Do me a favor and don't make too much of a scene?" Erasa asked.

                "No problem."  With a neutral face, she slammed on the door.  Hard.  "Sharpener!" she yelled.

                "Damn it Videl!  You promised!"

                "Promised what?  I never shook your hand on it, or specifically said 'I promise'."

                "I see you are out of your morning mood," Erasa muttered under her breath.

                "What was that?"

                "Nothing."  She was going to say something else, but never had the chance, as the bathroom door opened, revealing Sharpener with a sheepish look on his face.

                "Hello," he said loudly, acting as if nothing was wrong.  And that's when she hit him upside his head.  "Ouch!  What was that for?"

                "I don't know.  I'll think of an excuse later."  She walked away from Sharpener, going down the hall.

                "Damn that hurt," he muttered, rubbing his head.  He got smacked again though, this time by Erasa.  "Ouch!  Erasa!"

                "Don't 'Erasa' me, Sharpener!  Besides, we were supposed to go to the ice cream parlor with Videl once we got done registering!"

                "Well don't look at me!  It's not my fault you got a bit horny all of a sudden!"

                "Me?  Don't you go saying that!  You know it was your fault for getting Videl mad.  You were the one who said to go in the closet to make out."

                "What, is everyone against me today?" Sharpener cried out, tossing his hands into the air.

                "Will you two hurry up?  I don't have all day.  My sister is expecting me to spar with her today," she called back to the two blondes.

                "Really now?  How is Kagero doing?" Erasa asked, turning down the hallway with their friends, just missing the black haired boy that was about to come out of the bathroom.

                "Just fine Erasa.  Just fine," Videl said, smiling slightly.

* * *

End Part Five

* * *

I hope you enjoyed.  Please review.


	6. 0:6 A Sign of Dislike

Disclaimer: see Part's one and five.

Author's note: This one was a bit of a struggle.  It really isn't my best that I've written, though I tried to get things in there that I needed.  Once this chapter is complete though, I'll be doing some revisions and posting the whole thing as one complete chapter.

Pre-reader credit goes to PsYChO, who told me that I could get cloned in Taiwan.  I declined, telling him that I didn't want my clones assisting him in taking over the world.

* * *

Parallel and Perpendicular

A romance/fiction story by ShaggyDiz

Chapter Zero: Parallel

Part Six: A Sign of Dislike

* * *

                "Well, Gohan… how did it go today?" Chichi asked her son.  The tests were done today for the half-Saiyan, and it was now shortly after three.  They were sitting on the Nimbus Cloud currently, flying back towards the mountain area they called home.

                "It went pretty well.  It was quite simple actually.  Then again, I had you as my teacher, so I guess anything they threw at me would be simple," he said from in front of his mom.  The seating was the same as before: Chichi behind her son, who was acting as her wind guard.  "What did you do while I was testing?"

                "Nothing too much really.  I walked around the city for a bit and had some lunch.  There are a few bad neighborhoods though, that I'll say.  I happened to come across three crimes actually."

                "Really now?" he asked surprised.

                "Yeah.  And at two of them, this girl came in and did the job that the police couldn't do."

                "Did you catch her name?"

                She shook her head behind him.  "Nope.  People were busy cheering for her.  In all of that, I'm surprised that not one of them said her name.  It's like they all know her personally or something, and that they don't need any introductions."

                "I see," he muttered.  He remained quiet for some time, contemplating this little bit of information.

                "Gohan… there was one thing that you might find a bit interesting."  He turned his head sideways to look behind him.

                "What was it?"

                "Well, you remember that dream you had?"  He blushed.  In all of the testing today, he had completely forgotten about it.

                "Yeah.  What about it?"

                "The girl that stopped the crimes… she looked oddly reminiscent of what you described in your dream."

                Gohan said nothing.  He simply turned back around and remained quiet for the rest of the trip.

* * *

                "Damn fucking robbery.  That's the third one today!"

                It was quite a long day for the black haired girl, as in the two hours since she had left school, she had stopped two bank robberies and an attempted murder.  She crawled her way back to the ice cream parlor, where her freshly made sundae had melted for the third time today.  Erasa and Sharpener were there keeping watch over the sundae but could do nothing to the phenomena known as room temperature.

                "I'm turning this stupid thing off.  Can't those idiots do anything without me?" she cried out.  By now, the shop owner had taken the melted sundae to produce a new one.  He wasn't mad about having to do this, but rather just slightly peeved for the same reasons that she had: the ineptitude of the Satan City Police Department.

                "Here you go, Miss Videl.  I know this is the fourth one you will – or are going to try to have – today, but just remember that you only have to pay for one.  This, like the past two, is on the house."

                "You sure about that Mr. Gatou?  I know it costs money to keep on having to do this," she said, trying to have the shop owner change his mind.

                "I know, but still.  I'm in league with you on having some kind of new training officer over at the department.  There are a few good cops there, but most of them seem like rookies."  He took a seat next to her in the bench, seeing as the blondes were occupying the other one in the booth.  "Maybe you can whip them into shape," Mr. Gatou said jokingly.

                "If it weren't for school and my home life, then I might.  As it stands, I'm forced to deal with this.  In fact," she started, doing what she mentioned earlier, "there will be no more crimes for me today.  Selfish… yeah.  They have to start turning that crime rate around themselves though."

                "I know Videl," Erasa said, coming into the conversation.  "You're seventeen!  There is no need to continue with this."

                "I know.  I want to do the stuff that my dad doesn't do though.  All he is nowadays is 'Fame! Fame! Fame!'"  She paused, and then flashed a mildly evil smirk.  "I wonder what it would be like to drop my last name."

                "I take it being the daughter of Mr. Satan really sucks, huh?" Mr. Gatou said.  She nodded, and then proceeded to start into her sundae.  The shop owner left, satisfied that she could finally eat, and went to help other costumers.

                They had finally left at quarter of four – the conversation and savoring of the sundae taking a full fifteen minutes – when the friends decided to part ways for the day.  Sharpener and Erasa decided to go back to one of their places and make out for a while.

                Videl went home, happy that she could finally get the chance to relax and then spar with Kagero.

* * *

                "We're home Goten!" came the cry from the door.  At first, there was no sound.  Soon though, a quick and heavy scamper came from upstairs.  Goten came into view a few seconds later, his arms outstretched like a plane while he made some flying sounds.  His brother bent down and stuck out his arms, catching the youngster and turning in circles with him, making him fly around like a real plane.  Chichi smiled at the sight.

                "Now boys, you know there is no flying in the house," she reprimanded playfully.  They stopped their little activity, with Goten jumping out of his brother's hands right onto his chest before climbing around to latch on his back.  His head peered over the teen's shoulder.

                "But Mom!" he whined.  "I don't know how to fly!"

                "Well, why don't you get your brother to teach you?" she asked.

                "Yeah Gohan.  Why don't you teach me?"  He shrugged.

                "I'll teach you tomorrow during the day, okay?  We won't have much time tonight since we just got back from the city and you and I still have a bit of sparring to do."  He reached around to pull Goten off his back.  "Besides, I'm really hungry right now.  How about we go and eat dinner?"

                "All right!" he shouted, nodded his head quickly.

                "What do you boys want?" Chichi asked them.

                They both shrugged.  "I don't know, Mom."

                "Well how bout this: I'll make a big pot of rice since you two are sparring.  That way, you'll have more than enough energy to last an hour."

                "Sounds good Mom," they both said in unison.

                "Very good.  Now, I want both of you to wash up.  I'll try and have the first servings done in five minutes."  And they were off, both running upstairs to wash their faces and hands.

                "You ready to spar tonight squirt?" he asked his younger brother.

                "Yeah!  It was so boring without you here today!  I can't wait!"  He laughed at Goten's happiness.

                "What did you end up doing today then that made you so bored?"  For a moment, Goten looked thoughtful.

                "Well, Mom told me to read a book, and I did that.  After that, I went out and played catch with the butterflies and frogs."

                "Really now?  How so?"  It raised his interest somewhat to know how he did such a thing with small creatures.

                "It was pretty one-sided, now that I remember.  I chased after them with one of those fishing nets, but they ended up winning," Goten said, pouting some.

                "Hey, don't worry about that.  Next time, you'll just have to be more stealthy, okay?"

                "Stealthy… you mean that I should be more quiet next time, right?"

                "Exactly," he said, smiling.  He turned to go back to the kitchen, already smelling the first servings of rice coming out of the pot.  As he got to the door though, he felt a tug on his pants from Goten.  He turned his head and looked down.  "What is it squirt?"

                "I got a surprise tonight when we go sparring.  You'll like it a lot."

                "Oh really?  You want to show me now?"

                Goten shook his head.  "I can't.  Mom would yell at me for doing it inside."  He ran off ahead of his older brother.

                "Something that he can't show inside?  I wonder what that would be…" Gohan left it at that, going down the stairs to have many, many servings of his mother's white rice.

* * *

                "I'm home!" came the cry from the door.  At first there was no sound.  Soon though, two pairs of footsteps had started.  One pair originated from the kitchen, while the other pair came from upstairs.  The pair upstairs was the much heavier pair, as the person owning them seemed highly ecstatic for the teen at the door, hence the heavy running.  Kagero came flying down the stairs moments before Faye came in, both moving towards the front door.

                "Videl!" cried Kagero.  She leapt a good five feet into her older sister's hands.  She spun the youngster around twice before placing her on her shoulders.

                "Good afternoon Videl.  How was your day?" Faye asked, taking the more mellow approach to greeting the girl.

                "Give me a foot massage and I might say it was okay," she said sarcastically.

                "That bad, huh?"

                "Three!  Count them: three police calls!  And then I stopped a fourth one that I saw coming home!  These idiots can't do sh-"

                "Videl!  Not with Kagero on your shoulders!" Faye reprimanded.  Kagero stifled a giggle while the teen just continued to look angry.

                "Fine.  These idiots can't do anything in the city!  Better?"

                "Much."

                "Good.  What's for dinner?" she asked, walking towards the stairs with Kagero still on top.

                "Nothing too much tonight.  Just some rice and chicken… should help you two with your sparring tonight."  She moved to the bottom of the stairs, making sure the girls heard her.

                "Ah, right.  Thanks Faye!"

                "Yeah!  Thanks Faye-Faye!"  With that, the girls made their way to the bedroom.  Once inside, she sat on the edge of her bed, falling backwards and letting Kagero land on the pillows.  She pulled herself up and sat in the middle of the bed, with the younger girl moving up in front of her.

                "So what did you do today?" she asked Kagero.

                "Well, Faye-Faye needed to go get some food, and she asked me to come along.  So I went with her."

                "That's cool."

                "Yeah!  We went down to the southern part of the city, since she said something about the better produce and grains coming into the city from there."

                "I take it that's where she got most of the dinner from?"

                Kagero nodded.  "We stayed there for a while too.  We went sight seeing for a while, and we even saw you stop a robbery today!"

                "Really now?"

                She nodded again.  "Yeah.  We would have said 'hi', but you looked like you were in a rush."  She slightly, remembering the "fun" she had today.

                "Kagero, do me a favor and don't volunteer for the police department."

                "Why?" she asked confused.

                She thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to say this.  "I might tell you when you're older, but you might as well know now, since you are a pretty perceptive for someone your age.

                "The reason that I don't want you to volunteer is because the cops will expect you to do everything.  Sure, you might enjoy it the first few weeks when you get the thrill of beating the snot out of crooks.  Eventually though, they'll end up relying on you so much that you won't have anytime to yourself."

                "Is that what happened today?" Kagero asked.

                "Yeah."  She quickly replayed for her the day's events.  "So you see, being a volunteer police officer really isn't the greatest thing to do."

                "Videl, why do you still do it then if you don't like it?"

                She got caught there.  She had been expecting the question for a while, mostly from someone older, like her dad or Faye, but never from her younger sister.  "I don't know really."  She paused.  "Actually, if you want a better answer, I guess I would say that I want to make a name for myself.  Most of the people still know me as the daughter of Mr. Satan.  Wouldn't you rather be known as 'Kagero Satan: Civil Servant' instead of 'The Youngest Daughter of the Greatest of all Men: Mr. Satan'?"  She shook her head.  "Well, that's what most people know be by.  They're too incompetent to know the real truth about anything."

                "And you want to find out the real truth?"

                "Exactly."  She paused again, and then smiled.  "You know, it's pretty dangerous to be that young and be so knowledgeable," she said.

                "I get it from you.  Remember that."

                "I will.  Now, anything else happen today?" she asked Kagero.

                "I think so.  We were out till about three thirty today.  There was something that Faye-Faye noticed though.  I asked her what it was though, and she said something about recognizing some guy."

                "Did you ask her about this guy?"

                She nodded.  "She said that he looked eerily reminiscent of somebody that you dreamt about."

                Videl said nothing.  She was too shocked to say anything, and she wouldn't speak again for another ten minutes, when dinner was ready.

* * *

                "You ready Goten?" he asked his younger brother.

                "Yeah!  I want to spar now!"

                He laughed.  "All right."  He walked into the kitchen, looking for his mom.  He found her at the sink, washing the mountain-sized pile of dishes.  "Hey Mom.  We're heading out now."

                "Okay Gohan.  Try and be back in before it gets dark," Chichi said, turning her head briefly to address her son.

                "We will.  Bye Mom!"  He went back into the living room, picking up Goten along the way before exiting the house.

                "So Goten, what training ground will we do today?"

                "Um…" he put his finger to his chin, looking thoughtful for a moment.  "Let's go to the usual one."

                "Why that one?" he asked.

                "I like that one.  It's just so big, and there's so much to do over there.  Come on!  I'll race you!"  Goten didn't bother waiting for his brother, for he was already off, running full speed towards the training ground.  He soon disappeared into the forest, leaving the teenager standing just yards away from his house.

                He closed his eyes, sensing where his brother was at this time.  "You're getting faster Goten… nearly halfway there now.  Hmm… might have to go Super Saiyan to catch up this time.  Let's see."  He transformed, not bothering with the golden aura.  There was no need for it, and he didn't want to face his mom about transforming into a Super Saiyan so close to the house and destroying most of the windows in the front of it.

                "Five… four… three… two… one… GO!"  And he was off, racing through the forest as quick as he could manage, dodging the trees and the thick bush.  He soon emerged at the far side of the forest – several kilometers wide – in under a minute.  He got out of Super Saiyan form just as Goten came out: he had a huge smile on his face, thinking for once that he might have beaten his brother.  That was, until he turned his head to the clearing from the forest that his smile dropped.

                "No fair!" Goten cried out.

                He laughed.  "Hey, you got a head start.  I wouldn't call that fair now, would I?" he asked, knowing the answer.

                "Well… you're faster than me!"

                "You're getting faster though.  I had to transform this time.  Eventually you'll beat me with those head starts."  He moved out into the field some.  "Now… attack!"

                He turned, and met Goten's first punch with a forearm block.  They went like that for nearly twenty minutes, exchanging punches, kicks and the like.  In those twenty minutes though, the boys used the majority of the field.  The fight took place mostly on the ground, due to Goten's inability to fly.  It wasn't boring to them though.  Most of their movements were rapid, as one would go for a strike, and at the last moment, one would dodge, only to counter and miss.  Whether it was Goten's growing instincts in battle, or his older brother's lessened instincts due to the lack of training that he had done in the last seven years didn't matter to them, as it was pure fun.

                They paused for a moment, taking a quick breather and gauging each other's next move.  The teenage Saiyan smirked, something that Goten returned equally.  It wasn't until his smirk turned into a frown that the younger boy got worried.

                "Time to turn this up now," he said, clenching his fists and turning into a Super Saiyan.  Goten stepped back, worry on his face.  He didn't have time to think, as his brother leapt forward, preparing to strike.  He did the only thing he could do: step back once more, cross his arms… and turn into a Super Saiyan.  The teen stopped mere inches from Goten, looking down at him in awe and amazement.

                "So this is the surprise you had for me, huh?" he asked, now looking on in approval.

                He nodded.  "It's so cool!  I like it when I fight this way!"

                "Ah… so you've been doing this for a while now?"

                "About a month I think… I really haven't kept track of it.  I only know that I turned into it in front of Mom, and she sort of freaked out."

                He laughed.  "I half expected her to… at least, when you did eventually transform.  Wow… this is amazing… turning Super Saiyan at such a young age.  I mean, I was young when I transformed, but this… I'm speechless."  He sat down, scratching the back of his head with one hand.  Goten mimicked his moment, but placed both his hands behind his head, grinning wildly.

                "Hey Gohan!  I want to see how good I am against you now.  Can we spar again?" he asked.

                "Sure," Gohan said, standing up and getting into a stance.  "Let's see what you got."  With that, they fought for nearly an hour, fighting in the field until sunset.

* * *

                "Are you ready, Kagero?" she asked from the bottom of the stairs, patiently waiting for her sister to come down for their sparring session.  She got her answer a few moments later, as Kagero came racing around the corner and slid down the railing, right into her big sister's arms.

                "I'm ready!" she cried out.

                She set her down on the ground.  "Good.  Shall we?"  Kagero nodded, and the two went off through the house towards the back door.  They passed by Faye along the way.

                "Are you two going out now?" she asked.

                "Yeah.  We're going to use the outdoor floor.  We should be done in about an hour."

                She nodded.  "Have fun you two!" she yelled out after them before resuming the work she had before her.

                The girls reached the outdoor mat within a few minutes.  They took a few laps around the floor, getting themselves warmed up before sitting down and stretching.  They remained silent the whole time, letting their minds get into focus.  Kagero had been recently taught by her big sister the finite points of relaxing and focusing.  She learned well, as her recent training went together with her increasing perceptiveness.  The teen thought it would be good for her to focus now instead of later, since it would develop a lot of her skills now.  She herself didn't learn meditative skills until six or seven months after her mother's death, when she had found the one thing – besides Kagero – that brought her back into reality and focus.

                They finished at the same time, standing up and moving to opposite sides of the square mat.  It wasn't very big – at most, it can hold and train twelve people – but it was the perfect size for both of them to move around freely.  They stepped back into their stances and prepared for round one.

                "Are you ready Kagero?" she asked.

                "Bring it on Videl.  I'm ready."

                She smirked.  "Good."  Without warning, she sprang forward, intent on getting the first blow.  Kagero, while still young, was fast, and she saw the opening attack.  She quickly dodged to the side, planted herself, and then shot out for her own attack.  The teen recovered from her first attack to avoid Kagero's counter.

                The fight went from there: punch, kick, elbow, and dodge, counter, counter and counter.  The older girl was able to land more of her strikes due to her overwhelming experience, but it didn't deter Kagero.  She had found a way to stay in the fight and score a few hits of her own.  After several minutes of this, they paused for a minute or so for a break, getting some water and catching their breath.

                It was round two in which she noticed something odd about the younger girl's behavior.  At first, she figured it was just some sort of fighting spirit coming from within that allowed the girl to fight as she was.  But then she noticed that Kagero's strikes were getting harder, albeit less focused.  She looked into her eyes during a brief lull in the fighting and saw something she didn't like: pure anger.  It explained the reason for this change of fighting, and she knew that it had to end fast.  She had to do it without getting herself hurt and her sister hurt.  Taking advantage of another brief lull, she quickly swooped in low and came under Kagero's arms, wrapping her up and tackling her to the mat.  She took a hold of her wrists and pushed them down, now having control of the girl.  Kagero's anger slowly went away, leaving her rather tired.

                "Now… tell me what's wrong?" she asked the girl.

                "Just… everything with Dad… it shouldn't get to me, I know… but I'm his daughter.  He doesn't acknowledge me as his daughter anymore… he hasn't in a while."  She paused, collecting her breath.  "I guess fighting you was the only way to get it out."  She looked down at the arms holding her, seeing that small, yet noticeable bruises were forming.  "Sorry."

                She looked down herself, seeing why Kagero was apologizing.  "Don't worry.  I've had worse.  I was more worried about you anyway.  Fighting like that can get you injured."

                "I know."

                She lifted herself off of Kagero, moving back to sit on the mat.  "I have to talk with Faye about this," she said, a brief look of anger appearing on her face.

                "Videl!  Please, don't!  I don't want her in this."  The girl was desperate now for some odd reason.  That was what the teenager deduced

                "Kagero… Faye knows, and you told her to keep it away from me.  Whether or not this is because I watch over you too much doesn't matter.  I am your sister, and therefore, I have the sole obligation of making sure everything with you is all right.  You got me?"  She nodded.  "I wish there was an easier way to do things, but there isn't.  Please don't try and hide anything else from me that involves Dad, okay?"

                Another nod.  "I'll try."

                "Good.  I have to find Faye now.  I really must know what is going on."  Videl got up, making her way back through the door into the mansion, looking to confront Faye.

* * *

End Part Six

* * *

I hope you enjoyed.  Please review.


	7. 0:7 What Haunts in My Sleep?

Disclaimer: see part one and five.

Author's note: pretty short part this time.  My apologies, for the lack of time prevented me on expanding this part of the chapter.  I will work on it in the middle of June, along with the rest of the chapter.  For now, enjoy.  Only one part remains in chapter zero.

Oh, and don't forget to stop by my profile page if you wish to be on my mailing list.

No pre-reads done this part.  I'm still trying to decide whether or not I decided to keep this little part a secret from Mike and Ann, even though they already knew what happened.

* * *

Parallel and Perpendicular

A romance/fiction story by ShaggyDiz

Chapter Zero: Parallels

Part Seven: What Haunts in My Sleep?

* * *

                "What is it that you see?" it asked.

                "Nothing… no, wait!  Brown and green… I might be in a forest.  I see trees."

                "What is it that you hear?"

                "Birds… the wind, I can hear the wind.  There is something else… some sort of… humming sound.  It's unnatural though."

                "What is it that you feel?"

                "Nothing… like I'm lonely.  I try and touch this tree… my hand… I can't touch it.  I can't feel the ground beneath me… who are you?"

                "Wrong," it mocked.  "Try again."

                "…What are you?"

                "Nothing.  I am nothing.  A figment, if you will.  I'm here… because you need to know."

                "What do I need to know?"

                "_Her_ pain."  And then it was gone, replaced by a blinding flash of white light.

                Impenetrable.

                Thick.

                Heavy.

                It soon lifted, revealing trees.  It was dark.  Looking up, the trees covered everything.  No sunlight penetrated it.

                "What to do?" he asked, though not in his voice.  It was… a young woman's voice.  "Strange," 'he' simply said.  He held up his hands… rather, _her_ hands.

                "What is this?"

                "Who am I?"

                The humming returned.  He… rather, 'she' went through the woods, following the sound.  It got louder as 'she' moved forward.  Looking around, 'she' saw no one.  The only sound was the humming 'she' followed.

                Unnatural.

                Man-made.

                'She' came out of the trees, looking out, seeing a street some distance ahead of her.  The humming grew louder.

                "An idle engine," 'she' whispered.  'She' moved closer, seeing a pack of people surrounding the humming sound.  There was a new sound being emitted.  It was soft, and hard to figure out at first.

                "Sobbing… someone's crying."  'She' reached the back of the pack, trying to poke 'her' head around.  'She' managed to squeeze through.  'She' heard someone yell out 'Let her through.  I know her.'  Soon enough, 'she' was pulled through, looking down at a child holding a woman in her arms.  Next to her, a toddler – a girl with the small clothing attire being shown – was crying, thrashing about in her chair, as if knowing what had happened, and yet, not knowing, just wanting…

                "It's Mom," the young girl said.  Tears flowed down her face, but she did nothing to stop them.  She couldn't because of the lady in her arms.  Then it clicked to 'her'.

                "Faye-Faye?" the child asked.  'She' looked down again, trying to figure out something to do.

                "She's dead."

                And then the white light returned.

                Impenetrable.

                Thick.

                Heavy.

                It stopped briefly, showing a speeding car.  To the left, there was a child in hand, helping in pushing the baby carriage.  They got pushed out of the way.  One last look… at the speeding car…

                And then he woke up.

                "Ah!" he yelled out hoarsely, breathing in deeply.  He looked at the clock.  "Three… in the morning… damn."  He continued breathing deep, wondering what had happened just now.

                "Shit."  He couldn't help but curse out loud again.  Slowly, he pushed the remaining covers off of him and stood up.  He left for the bathroom, grabbing a pair of pants to put on along the way to cover what little he had on.

                Turning on the light, he made his way to the sink, twisting the handle on for the cold water and splashing some on his face.  "What the hell was that?" he asked himself, looking into the mirror.  He splashed more cold water onto his face.

                "I'm going back to bed… if I can."  He couldn't help but laugh, knowing now that sleep was a lost cause.  "This dream… how odd… why did I see someone die?  Someone that… I don't even know?  Does this mean something?"

                He got back to his room, moving as quietly as he could, trying not to disturb Goten.  "Gohan?"

                "What is it?" he asked, looking towards his bed to see Goten sitting on it, rubbing his eyes and yawning ever so softly.

                "What's wrong?  Did you have a bad dream?"

                He sighed.  "You could say that."  He moved to sit next to his younger brother.  "Was I too loud?"

                "I heard you say a dirty word.  Mom won't like it."

                "Mom won't know about it," he said, chuckling slightly.  "I'm sorry… just these dreams the last week… it's telling me something.  This is the first night that I've had this one though."

                "What happened?" Goten asked him, curious.

                "You don't need to know… not now at least."  He picked up Goten, carrying him over back to his bed.  "Get some sleep now.  Tomorrow, I'll teach you how to fly," he said, tucking him in.

                "Okay… Gohan… see you tomorrow."  He was out in a flash, his breathing becoming even.  A light snore started several moments later.

                "Night Goten," Gohan said smiling.  He returned to his bed, going to sleep.  He would never dream this dream again.

* * *

                "What is it that you see?" it asked.

                "Nothing… no, wait!  Brown and yellow… I might be in a desert.  I see sand dunes and rock faces."

                "What is it that you hear?"

                "Snakes… the wind, I can hear the wind.  There is something else… some sort of… humming sound.  It's unnatural though."

                "What is it that you feel?"

                "Nothing… like I'm lonely.  I try and touch this rock… my hand… I can't touch it.  I can't feel the ground beneath me… who are you?"

                "Wrong," it mocked.  "Try again."

                "…What are you?"

                "Nothing.  I am nothing.  A figment, if you will.  I'm here… because you need to know."

                "What do I need to know?"

                "_His_ pain."  And then it was gone, replaced by a blinding flash of white light.

                Impenetrable.

                Thick.

                Heavy.

                It soon lifted, revealing sand.  It was bright.  Looking up, the sky was clear.  There were no clouds blocking the sun.

                "What to do?" she asked, though not in her voice.  It was… a large man's voice.  "Strange," 'she' simply said.  She held up her hands… rather, _his_ hands.  The hands were green lined with a pinkish color.

                "What is this?"

                "Who am I?"

                The humming returned.  She… rather, 'he', went out through the desert, following the sound.  It got louder as 'she' moved forward.  Looking around, 'she' saw no one.  The only sound was the humming 'she' followed.

                Unnatural.

                Man-made.

                'He' came to a clearing, looking out, seeing a golden valley ahead of 'him'.  The humming grew louder.

                "It sounds like the end of the word," 'he' whispered.  'He' moved closer, seeing a small group of people surrounding the humming sound.  Suddenly though, the sound ended.  As quickly as that ended though, a new sound filled the air.  It was soft, and hard to figure out at first.

                "Sobbing… someone's crying."  'He' reached the back of the group, trying to poke 'his' head around.  'He' got through, coming up behind a boy.  Next to the kid was a short balding man.  He was whispering to the child, trying to calm him down.  'It'll be all right' was a phrase 'he' picked up.  The boy himself was on his knees, his arms wrapped around himself.  He looked up at 'him', noticing just now that he arrived.  'He' looked into his eyes, seeing as if he lost something, like he was missing…

                "It's Dad," the young boy said.  Tears flowed down his face, but he did nothing to stop them.  He couldn't because of the position he found himself in right now.  Then it clicked to 'him'.

                "Piccolo?" the child asked.  'He' looked down again, trying to figure out something to do.

                "He's dead."

                And then the white light returned.

                Impenetrable.

                Thick.

                Heavy.

                It stopped briefly, showing a boy on his knees.  In front of him stood a man.  He was mumbling words, inaudible over the rumble.  Behind him sat something huge, something inflated.  One last look before they vanished… it looked eerily reminiscent of Cell…

                And then she woke up.

                "Ah!" she yelled out hoarsely, breathing in deeply.  She looked at the clock.  "Three… in the morning… damn."  She continued breathing deep, wondering what had happened just now.

                "Shit."  She couldn't help but curse out loud again.  Slowly, she pushed the remaining covers off of her and stood up.  She left for the bathroom, grabbing a robe to put on along the way to cover what little she had on.

                Turning on the light, she made her way to the sink, twisting the handle on for the cold water and splashing some on her face.  "What the hell was that?" she asked herself, looking into the mirror.  She splashed more cold water onto her face.

                "I'm going back to bed… if I can."  She couldn't help but laugh, knowing now that sleep was a lost cause.  "This dream… how odd… why did I see someone die?  Someone that… I don't even know?  Does this mean something?  It has to mean something… cause I saw Cell."

                She got back to her room, moving as quietly as she could, trying not to disturb Kagero.  "Videl?"

                "What is it?" she asked, looking towards her bed to see Kagero sitting on it, rubbing her eyes and yawning ever so softly.

                "What's wrong?  Did you have a bad dream?"

                She sighed.  "You could say that."  She moved to sit next to her younger sister.  "Was I too loud?"

                "I heard you say a dirty word.  Faye-Faye won't like it."

                "Faye-Faye won't know about it… not that you care what comes out of my mouth anyway," she said, chuckling slightly.  "I'm sorry… just these dreams the last week… it's telling me something.  This is the first night that I've had this one though."

                "What happened?" Kagero asked her, curious.

                "You don't need to know… not now at least."  She picked up Kagero, carrying her over back to her bed.  "Get some sleep now.  Tomorrow, we'll go out and have a little fun somewhere, okay?" she said, tucking her in.

                "Okay… Videl… see you tomorrow."  She was out in a flash, her breathing becoming even.  A light snore started several moments later.

                "Night Kagero," Videl said smiling.  She returned to her bed, going to sleep.  She would never dream this dream again.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed.  Please review.


	8. 0:8 Taking the Path Less Clichéd Than Mo...

Disclaimer: see parts one and five.

Notes: Well, this is the conclusion to the prologue of P&P.  Nothing much to say here except read and enjoy.  The final notes for Chapter Zero are at the bottom.

Pre-reads were done by PsYChO (who is still on a "Matrix: Reloaded" fix) and Psycho Ann (who apparently melts whenever she becomes the "Satan" in the "Satan Sonwich").

* * *

Parallel and Perpendicular

A romance/fiction story by ShaggyDiz

Chapter Zero: Parallel

Part Eight: Taking the Path Less Clichéd Than Most

* * *

                He woke up slowly, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to open them.  Looking to his left, he spotted the time on his alarm clock.  "Six thirty… where did this last week go?"

                It had been one week since the registration at school.  That one-week gave the teen little time to gather everything he needed.  The constant shopping and phone calls to school caused his discomfort, and his nerves had been bent numerous times.  The weekend was a welcomed relief, and with Monday here, school was set to begin.

                He followed his normal routine: waking up, taking a shower, and then dressing.  Afterwards, he joined his mother and his brother down at the table.

                "Good morning Gohan," Chichi said, greeting him with two plates of breakfast.

                "Thank you Mom!  Breakfast looks good today!"

                "Yeah!" Goten said after swallowing a bit of food.  "Pancakes galore!"

                The two boys attacked their plates in a mad frenzy, quickly munching down their meals.  Goten ate nearly eight plates before hopping away, off to play with one of the newest toys he got during the previous week.

                "You ready to go Gohan?"

                "Yeah Mom."  He got up and grabbed his bag from his room.  He got back and got a bag from Chichi.  "Lunch?"

                She nodded.  "I hope it's enough for you.  I know you said that you wanted to fit in at school, but I made you a little extra so you would get through the day."

                "What did you make?"

                "I got two sandwiches made with your favorites on it, plus a bag of chips.  I trust you have money for a drink and another snack?"  He nodded.  "Good.  Now get going; school starts in about a hour."

                "Right."  He ran to the stairs, yelling a quick goodbye to Goten.  After receiving a hearty shout back, he met his mom at the door.  She gave him a quick peck on the cheek, standing on her toes to do so.

                "Now I want you to have fun and work hard Gohan.  I expect you home within two hours of the last class you have.  I'll give you some leeway there so that when you make some friends, you can do something with them for a little while after school."  He nodded his thanks.  "I think that's all for now… I'll make any amendments to these little rules when I see fit."

                "Okay Mom."  He lifted off into the air, flying backwards away from Chichi.  "I'll see you this afternoon!"  With a final wave, he turned and blasted off, rocketing away towards Satan City.

                He got to the outskirts of the city thirty-five minutes later, touching down in a secluded spot just outside of it.  He started walking the short distance remaining to the school, but he didn't get far.  Just a few minutes in, several cop cars flew down the street a short distance ahead of him.  Deciding to check it out, he ran to the corner, looking down it.  There, he found a bank, a pickup truck, and several cop cars, with the cops being pinned inside their vehicles due to the submachine gun fire.

                "So this is the crime of Satan City that I've heard of, huh?" he wondered aloud.  He briefly looked around, looking for some sort of hiding spot to transform.  He found an empty alley a few feet away, on his side of the street.  "Perfect," he whispered.  He disappeared down the alley, transforming and flying up onto the roof.  He looked down at the scene, noticing that it hadn't changed at all from seconds before.

                "How to make an entrance… I know!"  He back peddled a few steps, keeping track of where the robbers were.  He slipped his bag off his shoulder, and then, crouching slightly, he sprinted forward, running to the ledge and flipping off it.  He sailed through the air, twisting his body around and using his energy to push himself towards the robbers.  He landed on the back end of the cab, crushing it into the ground, blowing out all the windows and tires and knocking nearly everyone at the scene onto their backsides.  Standing up from his bend landing position, he looked around, first to the police officers, making sure they were all right, before diverting his attention to the robbers, who were now picking themselves off of the pavement and redrawing their guns.

                "Who the fuck are you kid?" the lead robber said, nearly wetting himself in the process.  The teen only smirked before flying forward, "tapping" his elbow into the leader's gut.  He clutched his stomach before dropping to the ground unconscious.

                "Anyone else?" he asked, looking around.  The three standing before him quickly looked at each other before looking down into their hands.  A resounding "click" occurred in each of their heads when they saw their own submachine guns still in their hands.  They opened fired a split second later, emptying dozens of bullets towards the half-Saiyan.  He lifted his hand up, and with a simple exertion of energy, he blew up many of the bullets while knocking the rest out of the way, each of them landing in either the sidewalk or the building next to them.  The wave of energy continued on towards the three gunmen, and had promptly knocked them out, before reaching the fourth and final gunman, who had innocently come out to check on the commotion before receiving the tail end of the energy wave, knocking him out as well.  He looked around briefly, seeing as they were still breathing, before looking back to the officers.

                "They're all yours," he said, before shooting back off into the sky.  He quickly landed back on the building where he started his little adventure at, taking a quick breath before returning to his normal state.  "That was fun," he simply said.  He picked up his bag before returning to the street, still having a decent amount of time to get to school before the opening bell rang.

                Gohan smiled along the way, and never saw the black haired girl, nor the look of shock plastered on her face from the robbery scene.

* * *

                She woke up slowly, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to open them.  Looking to her left, she spotted the time on her alarm clock.  "Seven… where did this last week go?"

                It had been one week since the registration at school.  That one-week gave the teen little time to gather everything she needed.  The constant shopping and police calls for various reasons caused her discomfort, and her nerves had been bent numerous times.  The weekend was a somewhat welcomed relief, and with Monday here, school was set to begin.

                She followed her normal routine: waking up, taking a shower, tying her hair back, and then dressing.  Afterwards, she joined her sister down at the table.

                "Good morning Videl," Kagero said, sitting with a stack of pancakes already set before her.

                "Morning Kagero.  Breakfast looks good today!"

                "Yeah!" The girl said after swallowing a bit of food.  "Pancakes galore!"

                "Pancakes galore it is," Faye said coming in from the kitchen.  She placed a plate in front of the teen, and she immediately went to work on it.

                Kagero finished first, going through a second plate before hopping away, off to finish getting ready for the first day of school she had.

                "You ready to go Videl?"

                "Yeah Faye."  She got up and grabbed her bag from the adjacent room.  She got back and got a pair of bags from Faye.  "Lunch?"

                She nodded.  "There's one for you and one for Kagero.  This should be enough for the both of you for lunch today.  Just let me know when you get back whether or not you want more or less for lunch."

                "Sounds good.  What did you make?"

                "I got two sandwiches made with your favorites on it, plus a bag of chips.  The same goes with Kagero's lunch.  I trust you have money for a drink?"  She nodded.  "Good.  Now get going; school starts in about thirty minutes."

                "Right."  She ran to the stairs, yelling up to get Kagero.  A few moments later, she came running down the stairs with her bag on her back, ready for school.  They turned and met the maid at the door, each of them giving her a quick hug.

                "Okay you two.  I want you to go and have fun today, but also work hard where you can.  Videl, make sure you pick up Kagero and bring her home before you go anywhere with your friends.  Dinner will be ready at about six, so you'll have some time to do stuff with them once you drop your sister off.  Understood?"  She nodded.  In her thoughts, she was wondering why she got this same speech again for the third year in a row now.  "Good.  Have fun girls!"

                "Okay Faye."  They walked over to the street, where her jet copter was waiting.  Before getting in, they turned back one more time.  "I'll see you tonight!"  With a final wave, they got in and lifted off, flying away towards the school district.

                They arrived at the school district about ten minutes later when she got the call on her watch.

                "Videl!  Videl!" yelled the chief.

                "What is it?" she said in a dead, neutral voice.  Kagero giggled slightly at the look her sister was giving the watch.

                "There is a robbery in progress at the Second National Bank of Satan City!  We need your assistance!"

                She sighed.  She could only ponder as to why they couldn't take care of something this small in the morning.  "I'm on my way," she finally said.

                "Thanks Videl!  We real- what the?!"  An explosion in the background cut off the chief, and the line went dead.

                "Chief!" she yelled into the watch.  "Damn… Kagero, we're going to the bank."  She quickly changed course, pulling back up into the air before rushing through the street, hoping to reach the scene before anything else happened.  "I need you to stay in here," she informed the girl.  Kagero nodded.

                They landed a half block away from the scene.  She quickly got out of her copter and ran down the street.  She froze though, staring in shock at the scene before her: all the robbers were being gather up in handcuffs, and a truck – she presumed that was the robbers getaway vehicle – that looked as if was hit with a wrecking ball.  As she got closer, she saw fragmented bullets imbedded in the outside walls of the bank as well as the pavement.

                "How odd…" she muttered.

                "Videl!"  She turned around, seeing the chief coming up beside her.

                "Chief… what the hell happened here?"  He caught his breath, not from the way he didn't look – the typical, overweight, donut eating "pig" – but because he was still recovering from the scene displayed out before him.

                "There was… this boy!  He came out of nowhere and just flattened their truck!"  She looked over to where the truck still sat, and indeed saw a pair of footprints where the back of the cab would be.

                "That wasn't the only thing that happened though," the chief said, bringing the teen back to focus.  "He somehow stopped bullets in midair and knocked out all these robbers with a wave of his hand!"

                "With a wave of his hand?  Insane!  No one can possible do that!" she yelled at him in disbelief.

                "Believe me Videl: there were witnesses.  None of us got a good look at the kid except for the hair he had: pure gold, I'll tell you."

                "Pure gold," she wondered aloud.  She was puzzled beyond belief.  "Wait… where did I see golden hair before?"

                A car horn brought her out of her thoughts, as she looked up to see a tow truck coming down the street, presumably to pick up the demolished truck.  She looked at her watch and saw the time.

                "Shit!  Chief, I got to go!"  Videl ran off, the question of the gold hair still on her mind.

* * *

                He stood in front of the school, his bag over his shoulder and his gaze looking towards the top of the five-story building.  He didn't understand why he was doing it now, other than the fact that he didn't have a chance to gaze at it before.  Removing himself from his dream like state, he entered the building, making a left down the first hall to pick up his schedule.  He looked over it while making his way to his homeroom, taking note that nearly all of his classes were in the same room.

                "The teachers must move around instead of the students," he said quietly to himself.  "It probably reduces the amount of people in the hallway at one time.  Ingenious, I guess."

                He made his stop in front of his homeroom, twelve-eight, before opening the door and walking in.  He was early – homeroom itself wouldn't start for five more minutes – so he made his way to the teacher's desk, seeing that the homeroom teacher was already present.

                "Good morning," he said to the teacher when he made his way over.  "My name is Gohan.  I'm one of the new students."

                The teacher looked up from his notes, seeing the tall, lanky – and somewhat dork-y looking – kid before him.  He pushed his glasses up his nose and stood up, taking the teen's hand.  "I'm Mr. Lou.  Pleasure to meet you Gohan.  Let's see your schedule, shall we?"

                They looked over the schedule for the next few minutes, with Mr. Lou telling him the various things that were going to happen in the first few classes, and the normal routine that would start later on in the day.  They went on until the bell rung, in which time he was given an empty seat next to a bubbly blonde in the third row.  He went up there and immediately recognized the muscular blonde sitting next to her.

                "Hey Sharpener," he said as he sat down.

                "Whoa!  Gohan, what a surprise to see you here!"  The jock's voice was somewhat thick with sarcasm, which the Saiyan teen picked up easily.  He smirked in response, a little too arrogant and out of character for himself.

                "I told you those tests were easy."  He leaned back from his discussion with Sharpener and held his hand out to the girl.  "I'm Gohan, if you haven't guessed."

                "I didn't need to, with the way idiot breath here said it.  I'm Erasa, by the way."  They shook briefly before looking towards the teacher, who was busy preparing for the homeroom.

                "Good morning class.  Welcome to the first day of the final year of your high school careers.  Hopefully all of you will pass and graduate so I can get paid more money, or else you can fail and spend another year with good old me."  Most of the students laughed at the comment, with one or two shouting out "Yeah Mr. Lou!" at the top of their lungs.

                "Quiet down students.  Now, before I go any further, I have two things to say.  First, we have several new students joining us for the year today, and it so happens that one of them was the first ever to score a perfect on the entrance exams.  Just be glad his last name is in alphabetical order, or else you wouldn't be able to learn off of this boy.  Oh, and if I hear of any toilet flushing, hazing or the like on him, or on any of the new students, the punishments will be severe.  Now, would all of the new students stand up and introduce yourselves?  You don't have to make any mention of where you live or how you live; just say your name and take a seat."

                The routine was painless and quick, as the new students – five in total – went around and said their names, immediately taking their seats after doing so.  No one knew that the half-Saiyan was the incredibly smart one (minus Sharpener and Erasa), so he lucked out for now.  No needed to know now, and the anonymity that Mr. Lou provided for the new students eased a bit of the tension that was built up inside of him.

                "The second thing I have to say is," the teacher said, resuming his earlier monologue, "where is Ms. Satan this morning?"

                It was at that moment that the door opened slowly.  All eyes shifted to the person standing at the door, to which everyone – including most of the new students – knew.  The black haired girl stood tall and confident, knowing that she was late, but for obviously good reasons.

                There was two things the teen picked up as the girl walked into the room with the slip in her hand.  The first was the sudden change in the demeanor of the teacher.  He looked closely and was able to see some sort of "tick" develop in his right temple.  He also noticed that his brow was set in a dead serious attitude, some that he hadn't shown before.

                The second thing picked up was the change in his voice, and how he inquired on the whereabouts of Ms. Satan.  Most of what came through his mouth before was obvious sarcastic humor, but when he spoke there, his voice was filled with a gross level of dislike and disdain.

                It was obvious to him that something was up between Mr. Lou and Ms. Satan.  Inquiry would have to come soon.

                For now though, his senses blocked out everything around him – the slight chuckles being ensued from the students, the slight argument happening at the teacher's desk – so that his attention was focused on the black haired beauty known as Ms. Satan.  His mind immediately clicked on in an attempt to figure out if he'd seen this girl elsewhere before.

                He suddenly remembered his shopping trip from two weeks ago, and the black haired girl he stared at for a mere second before being dragged away by his brother.  If only he had more time that day… surely Goten would have to be talked to about things that would not concern him for many years to come, such as young love.

                _Love?_  His mind spoke the word to him.  It was impossible to not even know someone to be in love.  Love was a long process, not something that happened in three seconds of an hour.  It was something that he wanted to experience from someone that he would meet and be friendly with.  Of course, "being friendly," meant "hi, how are you" to the person, and not the obvious innuendo part of "being friendly".

                His thoughts were stopped by a phrase uttered by the teacher, which went something like "seat next to the new kid with black hair".  Looking around quickly, he saw that he was the only new kid with black hair.

                What luck!  He would be sitting next to the black haired girl that he saw two weeks ago!

                If only he had the courage to say anything meaningful to the girl.

                Gohan had no time to think, as the moment he turned his head to the left, he saw the girl standing over her seat, looking down at him.

* * *

                She landed her jet copter at the top of the school building, arriving at what she hoped was a few minutes before the bell.  She dropped off her sister a quarter mile away at the first level school, where Kagero had plenty of time to do what she wanted before class started.

                The teen, meanwhile, had no such luck this day, for as she re-capsulated her copter and opened the stairway door, the bell rung, signaling the start of homeroom.  "Damn it!" she yelled out.  As quickly as she could, she vaulted down the five flights of stairs, running around a couple of corners before reaching the main hallway and entering the main office.  She stopped at the desk, pausing to catch her breath before standing up fully to speak.  The secretary was way ahead of her though.

                "Another police incident, Videl?" she asked.  The girl was relatively young: maybe twenty-three or twenty-four, and the black haired girl had learned a little while ago that she was new.  It was only the beginning of her second year working at the high school, so she didn't know a few things that would be damaging to character.

                "Yeah Ms. Tokoi.  I didn't expect to get here late, but I didn't realize the time until I actually got here."

                "It's quite all right, Videl.  Anyway, how's Kagero?"  It was always the second question the young secretary asked while writing the teen's late note.  The two had hit it off pretty well in the last year, and had managed to become quite good friends despite the status of celebrity that the girl held.

                "Same as she's always been, though she is becoming quite the perceptive little one."

                "Does it concern Mr. Satan?"  It was never the third question, though the look in the teen's eyes told the whole story.

                "Yeah.  I'll tell you about it later though.  I don't want Mr. Lou getting on my case again about being late to one of his classes."

                "I know.  He seems like a nice guy, though you always tell me he doesn't like you for some reason.  It's unfortunate you have him for homeroom this year if it's going to be that bad of a thing."

                She shrugged.  "Another story for another time, I guess.  I got to run now.  See you later Ms. Tokoi!"

                "Bye Miss Videl!" the secretary said, waving at the teen as she left the room.

                She climbed up the stairs to the second floor, moving to stand in front of her classroom – twelve-eight – when she heard the teacher say something about her whereabouts.

                "Shit," she muttered to herself.  She knocked on the door lightly before opening it.  The first thing she did was to make her self-assured, which was easy, since she knew Mr. Lou wasn't going to be pleased.  That would end up being the second thing she saw upon entering the room.

                The first thing she ended up seeing was the class's eyes peering down on her.  A quick glance showed where Sharpener and Erasa were sitting at – and a third student there, one she swore she recognized.  She had little time to dwell, for the teacher had begun his questioning and rude sarcastic remarks towards her.  She didn't quite remember how this morning conversation went.  She had explained the situation and in fact provided the note necessary for acceptance into class.

                The mystery student bugged her immensely though.  _Who was he?_  That was the burning question on her mind.  She got a somewhat better look as she got more into the classroom and noticed something quite familiar about him.  The black hair she immediately thought, as out of the ordinary, though she couldn't place it.  Maybe if she got a look from the back, she might know.

                She was brought out of her inner ramblings by a simple line uttered by Mr. Lou: "Go take a seat next to the new kid with the black hair."

                And then she looked up, and marveled in her luck.  She would be sitting next to the mystery kid.  But was he really a mystery, or something else?  Something that could have plagued her for some time now?  What was this thing burning inside her about the boy with black hair?

                Videl didn't get a chance to answer as she soon stood over her seat, looking down at the boy next to her.

* * *

                They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, for what really was only a few seconds.  No one made a sound, nor did they care, since most were diverting themselves back to the front.  The two were in their own little world.  Of course, something would have to break, and it did.

                Gohan smiled, and then reached out with his hand.  Videl could have sworn heavily at how wonderful that smile was, but then she would have gotten a few detentions at least.  Instead, she smiled back at Gohan and looked down at his hand.  She reached out with her own, accepting his in a handshake.

                "Gohan," he simply said.  She nodded.

                "My name's Videl," she responded.  He smiled again as Videl took her seat.  They turned to the front, ready for whatever festivities the day held.

                And no longer were their lives parallel, for they have reached the final crossing point.

                Their lives have become perpendicular to each other's.  Nothing would be the same again.

* * *

End Part Eight

End Chapter Zero

* * *

Final notes: the unofficial final word count for this is 32,324.  That is from the forty-four page, ten-font Word document that this story was originally written in.  Twelve-font enthusiasts may only guess at the page size if converted.  It took somewhere close to four months to write this out, from late February to middle June.

Current plans right now involve getting back on track with "That Warm and Fuzzy Feeling From the Back of a Saiyan", continuing on my side project, "Amour Foncé", and taking a break at some point in July from writing to getting back on track with my drawing.  Work on Chapter One of P&P, entitled "You May Think You Hate Me", will begin on August 1st, with expected launch of the chapter between the middle and end of August.  Also, Chapter Zero will undergo revisions and be reposted as one whole chapter (people who feel the need to complain about this will see that I will keep up the eight part section of Chapter Zero).

Finally, my thanks and deepest respects to PsYChO and Psycho Ann, and my even greater thanks and love to my sister, Disturbed Courtney, for their many contributions and assistance for this endeavor of mine.  It was greatly appreciated, you guys.

Coming soon, Chapter One: You May Think You Hate Me


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